True Hope

Recently, I was searching our book shelf for a book that would calm my burdened heart. With God’s direction (and my wife’s), I settled down into our couch to read  Be Still My Soul by Elisabeth Elliot. Elisabeth knew a burdened heart. At 27 years of age, she married Jim Elliot on the mission field of Ecuador, South America. Less than  3 years later her husband was massacred with 4 other men by members of a native tribe. There Elisabeth was, doing the Lord’s work, and widowed at the age of 29. Consider Elisabeth’s words in response to her loss:

The process of being stripped does not feel good. But the joy we taste is not  incompatible with the sorrow. I remember waking up one morning in my house in Shandia after Jim had been killed. The bed was empty beside me. Suddenly, in place of fresh tears of sorrow, I was surprised by a sudden, unexpected surge of joyful  exultation, realizing where Jim was at that very moment. He would never undergo the degradations and humiliations of old age. I would never have to spend days and nights in that dreadful fear of not knowing if he was safe. He was now with the Lord. Even with the reality of my widowhood and my daughter’s fatherlessness and the house and station that I had to run all by myself—there was joy! …It is the person who tries to save him- or herself who loses it all. (p. 20-21)

What an expression of faith! I do not know what burdens are on your heart as you read this. Is it broken relationships? Political exhaustion? Financial distress? The death of a loved one? (Add your own burdens here…) Whatever your burden, it is nothing in comparison to joy of God’s eternity. Consider the words of     another man who suffered greatly (see his list 2 Cor. 11:21-33):

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…  (Philippians 3:8-10, ESV)

None of us needs to look for hard times—they will come. Instead look to the Savior—He has suffered and overcome! When Paul declares, “I count everything as loss” it is not a cry of hope-lessness. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Paul is comparing the difficult things of this world to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ  Jesus my Lord.”

Those who know Christ as Lord and Savior have found true hope. This hope is found in the Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. It is the same Lord that rose from the dead Easter morning that will one day raise us up to eternal life. In that moment all our earthly treasures will no longer matter. Everything that we count as dear on this earth cannot compare to standing in the presence of the One Who loved us and gave His life for us! May this reminder from Elisabeth Elliot and the Apostle Paul fill you with joy, hope, and peace this Easter season and beyond!

Standing in the power of Christ’s resurrection,     Pastor Matthew