Hope rediscovered

Today I heard an old song that went "Everything will be alright".

I thought: Have we lost sight of that hope today?

So often we tend do define ourselves by our pain, our despair, bad circumstances, sicknes - the fruits of the fallen world - instead of defining ourselves by our hope.

The hope we've got, as Christians, is that Jesus has come not only to save, fix, bless, heal, strengthen, comfort, provide, safeguard, please and honor oss here and now - but first and foremost to do it fully at His coming return!

Today you can say: "I am a man/woman with cancer, betrayed by friends, facing unluck, psychological or physical handicap, BUT I am on my way to face a future where I am wealthy and healthy, helped by others, facing luck". In this way I let what I am about to become define what I am today.

The consequences of the fallen world hits us unjustly, but the fruits of our salvation will in one sense also hit us differently; Thouse who don't cry now will not need to have the privilege of beingt comforted later. The disabled psalmauthoress Fanny Crosby was asked if she didn't find it horrible to be blind, but she answered that the positive thing about not being to able to see now, is that the first thing she will ever see will be the face of Jesus! She defined herself by what she was going to be.

The Lord Jesus spoke of some men as "blessed", but the word in greek is hard to translate. It seems that he was speaking of people who were destined to face a better future. A catholic translater here in Oxford says that Jesus sermon could be translated as this:
Congratulations to you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Congratulations to you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Congratulations to you who weep now, for you will laugh" (Luke 6:20) (then he also added: I am sorry for you who are now rich...)

Sometimes when people say "I am not feeling well, but God is good!" other become cynical and think "He/She is trying to forget the reality and live in a dream", and of course it could be a simple try to flee from reality, but it can also be a sincere hope Let us not steal that hope from each other, but instead rather encourage one another to think like that! We have every reason to think like that!

I think that this "Congratulations" one the one hand can be fulfilled allready through the church (homeless people are getting homes, the hungry is fed, the mourning is comforted, the sick are heald, sinners are getting peace and the troubled ease - everywhere that the Church is practicing the kingdom of God - and of course God can also give the fatherless' shelter and the barren a child - and it cannot enough be stressed how important it is to do this now - but all of this is just a apéritif which aims to make us hunger more for the main course: The day when Jesus returns to earth and restore everything to perfection!

Congratulations you who are troubled now - you will be restored (and actually those who aren't as afflicted as you are, will not either meet the same measure of comfort as you)! Congratulations you planet earth that are on your way to destruction because of climate changes - you will gain your balance!

"Cause when we see you, we find strength to face the day"
(Paul Baloche)