A Future and A Hope

A Future and A Hope

As we begin this new year, many of us are doing so from a place of sadness and disappointment from a failed homegoing as hoped for last year.  While this may seem to throw us off a bit emotionally, I should like to remind us all that Jesus is still coming for us; His return is still in front of us.  It may or may not happen during a high watch window, Jewish feast day, or other speculated day.  We just don’t know; and we’re not supposed to know.  Jesus  told us to watch for the signs as we live our life fully and witness for Him.  Part of this ride has everything to do with praying for good things from God in our future and hoping that He will bring it to us in His good and perfect time.  We believe that the Lord has promised us as His followers both a future and a hope. This phrase, ‘a future and a hope,’ is commonly associated with the OT Prophet Jeremiah’s proclamation to the children of Israel who were taken captive into Babylon.  They would be in captivity there for seventy years; then afterward, released to return to Israel to resettle their land.

Jeremiah said it this way, “For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. ¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”                      – Jeremiah 29:10-14

The word ‘future’ by definition refers to ‘a time that will be or come after the present; something that will exist or happen in time to come; and a condition, especially of success or failure, to come.’  In like manner, the word ‘hope’ is ‘a feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; a particular instance of this feeling; grounds for this feeling in a particular instance; a person or thing in which expectations are centered; and something that is hoped for.’

We, like the Israelites of old, need to know that we too have a future and a hope; both in this life and in the life to come, if we are in Christ.  Our salvation sets us apart from the rest of unsaved humanity who desperately need to know Jesus as we do as Christians.  Life is difficult, most good, some bad.  While we live in this sin-laden world, we will experience the affects of sin and degradation.  However, one day we are promised by the Lord, that we will be with Him in glory.  When we are, we will be like Him; glorified, sanctified, and set apart for God’s glory and purpose.

Each day that God gives us is another opportunity to let our light so shine before men in ways that bring God the glory He is so worthy of.  We can see God’s goodness all around us.  He is with us and He is for us. We must trust in Him because He loves us and He has a plan for our lives that is best for us.  This is His goodness in our lives today; manifesting itself all around us in both obvious and unobvious ways.    

David said it this way, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”                     – Psalm 27:13

The phrase, ‘land of the living’ refers to this life now, in the here and now.  Later Jesus would also remind His followers that ‘…He has come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.’ – John 10:10b

When we put this all together we come to discover that this life we live as believers in Jesus is centered around the future and hope that God has ordained for us.  We live it by faith and obedience in His Word; and we trust in the Lord that He will get us through each day.  Even when set backs in this life occur, we still have a future and a hope in Jesus.  One man said it this way, ‘a set back is a set up for a comeback.’  The goodness of the Lord is the greatness of our heavenly Father living and working within us for His good pleasure and glory. 

I want to encourage you today that the future and hope that God has for you begins in this life and eventually will transition in to the next world when we do.  Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with God’s glory and grace.  One day soon we will be there, but until then, we need to manifest a little heaven in the life we live in the here and now.  The future and hope that God has for us will manifest bit by bit as we move forward in this life.  Each day is one day closer to the kingdom and one more day to shine for Jesus.  Keep looking up and out as we press on in this life.  God’s goodness is on you if you are in Christ.