Living INTO Hope

This week, with the US elections, we’ve been given a little snapshot of worldly hopes in action.

In an election, people express their hopes for a desired future…their longings for how they want things to be. They cast their ballot, placing the weight of their hopes in a person…a political party…an ideology…in policies conceived by human wisdom.

But we’ve been reminded the last two Sundays that worldly hopes are always uncertain and will never provide ultimate fulfilment. And so it is with politics…

Whichever candidate you voted for, they will always, ultimately disappoint…they will never fully deliver.

There will be moral failure, policy failure, financial failure, things outside their control. What they promised, more often than not, will not happen. They will seek to establish their own little kingdoms, and in 4 years time someone else will come along and dismantle and challenge and destroy.

And spare a thought for the campaign workers….paid, but often unpaid volunteers. They are examples of living into hope. They live in light of what they want to be true…living in light of a reality they really want to see happen, but they have absolutely no idea whether they will. No matter how sincere they are, or how hard they campaign, they are giving themselves to something that they have no idea will happen or not. They are trying to bring about their hope…giving themselves to it…living into it.

And for those on the losing side…their hopes were dashed…their efforts wasted…in the end, giving themselves to a hope that was futile.

But Christians….

…well, we are born again into a living hope…a lasting hope…and we are called to live out that hope now….to live in such a way that makes that hope visible and real.

If you like, we are all campaign workers, announcing the arrival and reign of a King whose rule is certain, whose throne is established, whose continued reign is not dependent on the outcome of an election. We are campaign workers for a hope that is sure and certain….that will not perish, spoil or fade.

In Luke 10 Jesus sends out his followers as workers into the harvest. The harvest…..well, that’s the outworking of God’s promise…of all that Christians hope for. The harvest is guaranteed. And we get sent out to live into that hope….to live now in such a way that shows our certainty in our hope.

Will you campaign for the King?

Psalm 146:3 is brilliant. It says: Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.

Thank-you Jesus, that your Kingdom will never spoil, perish or fade. Thank-you that you are our perfect King. Thank-you that in You we hope.