Hope for Life

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. – 1 John 3:16

The past 40 days of Lent and Eastertide, there was one thing on my mind that constantly convicted my heart as I reflected on the love of Christ. The common themes that would constantly come up in the times of digging through scripture and prayer all related to the theme of what it meant that we should love our neighbors. Other than the obvious call to all humanity to repent and worship the Lord, the means by which this is carried out is communicated through love.

So then what does it truly mean that we have hope in Jesus Christ? this extends beyond our conception of hope of being in heaven. It is so much more than the promise of eternal life, and being able to walk through the pearly gates. Dare I say, it is much more than just a story of salvation provided for us. Though the way to heaven is narrow, the way we love one another becomes so much bigger than we want to admit.

It means giving more than second chances to the ones we want to hate. It means giving hope to our friends and even our enemies through unconditional and radical love, humility, and service, way, way beyond what is necessary at times; and it means loving them ridiculously beyond what anyone ever deserves. Hope begins with a love that is so great that it even puts people in personal humiliation so much so that it brings them back to restoration. But in order to do this, we have to stop wallowing and stop complaining about how bad or lacking my life is right now, and realize you have more than you think you do. You have Jesus.

As Christians we cannot be in the business of condemnation any longer and cannot keep treating compassion as charity. When we choose not to love, it is the same thing as hating and condemning. Love and restoration of God’s people must become our first priority, and we can only do that when we who consider ourselves saved stop putting lines out on the water and start diving in to rescue them.

One will simply never experience what it means that Christ loved us by dieing on the cross for us until we ourselves have died to the selfish and self centered attitudes of this day and age. This is where hope begins, and this is the only way in which it could be announced to the world.