HomeAs a cloud of trouble casts its shadow over our world, we've been left to navigate through a darkness that's devoid of the rays of light that once gave us comforting sight. The response to that darkness ranges from depressing pessimism to delusional optimism.
Without an upward gaze that's fixed on hope found in Christ alone, we will find ourselves grappling for something solid to lean on to steady our anxious heart. Our fear coupled with our will to survive will have us grasping for whatever our human hand can find. A person of power. A promise of prosperity. A perspective of positivity. Disoriented and disarmed, we'll find ourselves clinging to any stabilizer that provides us with a sense of security. Even if it's temporal. Even if it's fragile.
The great danger in the midst of darkness is the lure of whispering promises that have no possibility of being kept in the midst of destruction. Power. Prosperity. Positivity. These safety nets of false hope are too fragile to hold us fast if God chooses to strip enough security from our earthly life. In His loving mercy and in His executions of justice that reach beyond our comprehension, He holds within His loving hand the power and authority to turn our world upside down. With just one spoken word from our perfectly good and sovereign King, every dream we cling to can be torn from our hands.
This isn't a message to fill us with fear, this is a message to fill us with hope. Real hope. Gospel hope. Hope that isn't energized by wishful thinking or bound by any ordering of circumstances. Hope that is such Good News that it can endure the dashing of any dream or the destruction of any earthly desire. Hope whose promise of security is as certain as it is unshakeable. Hope that is found in Jesus Christ alone.
In 1963, six months before C.S. Lewis went to be with the Lord, he was interviewed by Sherwood Eliot Wirt. The following words from Lewis are instructive:
I'm not here to tell you that our country will see brighter days or suggest to you that everything will be okay. Only God knows the details of his sovereign plan. The driving passion of my heart is to speak the only truth that is supported by a promise of everlasting comfort and security.
I'm here to offer warning that the real danger in the dark isn't found in our frail and fearful spirit of weakness, rather it's found in our self-preserving spirit of strength that pridefully finds security in itself. A spirit of strength that glories in human resolve instead of in God alone. The real danger in the dark is found in our leaning on fragile people, false promises and fleeting perspectives whose only certainty of power is to fail us.
The one desperate need of every heart in the midst of this darkness is for a trusted Savior. A trusted Savior of mercy and grace whose hope of salvation is eternal. A Savior who loves us beyond measure. A Savior who delights in the affection of an undivided heart and in the gaze of joyful expectancy.
In this blog post I highlight the fact that centering our hope in Christ delivers us from the immobilizing fear of destruction and bodily harm. Because of the holy and perfect sacrifice of God's son, those of us who put our trust in Jesus Christ are eternally safe. This is Good News indeed. Good News to fully own and freely share.
To my Christian friends, I urge you to look up. Fix your eyes on Christ. Love those around you enough to lead them to real hope. With Christ as your heart's treasure, His praise will flow from your lips as His immeasurable lovingkindness makes the Cross your only boast and God your only glory.
And to my dear friends who aren't convinced of your need for a Savior, I lovingly implore you not to look within or without for your salvation. You can't find it there. Look up. Look to Christ. Look to the only One Who has power to save us from death.