If you wanted to weaken the strongest man, you only need to take one thing away from him. Liquids. It doesn’t matter how naturally active he is or how much he has trained in the past, without liquid, it will only be a matter of time until he won’t even have the energy to get off the couch.

When it comes to living the Christian life, hope is a little like that. If you can take away a person’s hope, you take away their strength.

Unfortunately, while we don’t have many people trying to block our access to liquids, there are many circumstances and situations that come into our lives that make it difficult to hope, or at least, to put our hope in the right things. Because obviously, we as Christians do not merely want to be optimistic people, we want to be hopeful people, people who are putting our hope squarely where God wants us to put our hope.

And that takes some work. Peter puts it like this, “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Did you catch that? Fix. Not let your hope drift to the grace to be brought to you. Put it there. Deliberately.

But how? How can we work on hoping in our hope?

1. Pray for a special work of the Spirit of God in your life. Daily ask God to fill you up with a knowledge of the glorious hope that you have in Christ Jesus.

2. Study Scriptures that talk about your future. When you study what the Scripture says about the future, make them relevant to your situation. Read 1 Corinthians 15 as if it were talking about your future resurrection body because it is. Imagine your body coming flying up out of the grave and being transformed instantly into a body that is so glorious even the angels say wow.

3. Fight against wrong language and ways of speaking. The Bible says don’t grieve as those who have no hope. In other words, don’t let yourself start talking and thinking like unbelievers. One example of this would be any ways of talking as if God weren’t for you. If you are a believer God is for you, He is actively seeking your good and He will accomplish it. That means when I look to the future, I should not talk as if God weren’t in the middle of my circumstances. I shouldn’t speak as if my situation were out of control.

4. Avoid preferring a lesser hope. Sometimes it seems like the greatest dream of many Christians is to get to the place in life where they don’t have to trust in God any longer. If only my bank account were so filled that I never had to think about money, then I would be confident. Well, that would be nice but is that really better than having the sovereign God of the universe make a promise to you that if you seek first his kingdom he will provide for you in the ways you need most? I am guessing it would be nice to drive a BMW but is that really worth as many thoughts and as much excitement as standing before God on judgment day and having him say that you are holy, blameless and above reproach?

5. Memorize and meditate on relevant promises of God. Think of God’s promises like fruit that is hanging on the top of a tree and just because the fruit doesn’t fall down the first time you shake the tree doesn’t mean you should stop, keep on shaking that tree until the fruit falls down and you can enjoy it.

6. Avoid continuous association with hopeless people as much as possible. There are some people who are walking minus signs. And certainly you should love them and try to encourage them, but you don’t want to be mentored by them. Unfortunately sometimes we aren’t on our guard and so we are spending time with people who really aren’t thinking biblically or talking biblically, instead while they might call themselves Christians, they are really looking at life like someone who doesn’t believe in God. Watch out. These kind of people can siphon the hope right out of your gas tank without you even realizing what is happening at first.

7. Spend time with hope filled people. The Bible talks about encouraging one another day after day. If you meet someone who really is placing his hope in the right place, get to know that person. Listen to the way they talk. Imitate the way they live. How do you heat up a coal? Place it in with other hot coals and the same can be true spiritually, you want to heat up your hope, develop deep relationships with people who are fired up for the return of Christ.

8. Read biographies of hope filled people. What passes as normal Christianity isn’t always normal Christianity. It is fun to read biographies and to see normal Christianity. Sometimes you read a story and you think man, what if someone lived like this today? There are definitely churches where they would get in trouble for what? Putting their hope in the right place! It is helpful as well to read biographies that present the real story and not just so glorified “Hollywood” version where everything is easy. It helps your hope to realize that great saints sometimes struggled to have hope. You begin to realize there are ups and downs to the Christian life, you get your expectations straight, it enables you to keep fighting for hope because you realize you are not the first one who had to fight for it.

9. Learn to take charge of your thoughts. What if your real problem isn’t what you think your real problem is? What if the real problem is not so much your circumstances as it is the way you are thinking about your circumstances? When you are beginning to become discouraged it can be so difficult to believe that, but begin asking yourself what would be a different way of thinking about this situation? How would I be thinking if I believe God were in control? If I believed God loved me so much He sent His Son to die in my place? If God was using this difficult situation for my good? And then consciously and deliberately seek to think that way and recognize that other thoughts are not based on reality.

10. Attempt to organize your life according to your hope. Sit down and say, o.k. I believe in heaven, I believe I am going to stand before God one day, I believe that Jesus is coming back, I believe that eternity is what matters most, I believe that God will reward acts of faith, how should that impact me today? How should that impact my choices? Scary? Yes, sure, but look, if you start actually deliberately making choices on the basis of those realities, and “storing up treasures in heaven” you know what is going to happen, your heart is going to follow. You know why so many people who say they believe in heaven aren’t really hoping in heaven but instead hoping in the things of this life, it is because that is where they are spending all their time and money and energy storing up treasures. Your heart will follow your treasures, so start putting your treasures in the right place!

If someone grows cold physically, we know exactly what they should do, they need to get themselves near something hot, like a fire, in order to heat themselves up. The same of course is true spiritually. If you want to heat up spiritually, you need to get yourself as near as you can to, and stay as long as you can with, Jesus Christ who is the fire that can heat up the coldest person spiritually.

We were at church yesterday and were able to celebrate communion and during our communion service the person speaking was doing one thing and one thing only, lifting up the person of Christ and as he did so, I was reminded once again of how amazingly practical and life-transforming simply beholding Jesus Christ is. We talk about wanting to make our sermons practical and relevant, there is nothing more practical and relevant than simply talking about Jesus accurately and passionately.

Unfortunately, if there is one thing we as people are slow to do in this modern world of ours, it is to look long and hard at Jesus. We want to talk about us. We want to talk about being good people. We want to talk about how to have a successful life. You have all kinds of preaching about self and all kinds of talk about life in this world, which is pretty much the way it has always been, but where is Jesus Christ, it is as if he was a piece of trivia, as if he were merely a name or a historical figure to which we give a nod, but of no real and lasting importance.

And if that’s the way many of the people around us are, we should constantly be checking our own hearts to make sure we haven’t come down with the same spiritual sickness. John Owen saw something similar happening in his day and writes, “I am afraid we have not, some of us, that love for Christ, that delight in him, nor do make that constant abode with him as we have done. We have very much lost out of our faith and our affections him who is the life and centre, the glory and the power, of all spiritual life, and of all we have to do with God, Jesus Christ himself.” In other words, Owen was concerned and we should be as well, that our Christianity isn’t missing Christ.

What should we do if we find that happening? Let me paraphrase Owen once again:

1. Deliberately place your trust completely in Christ, and daily. If your heart is cold towards Christ and your mind empty when you begin to think of Christ, start speaking to yourself and more importantly, start speaking to Christ. Say to Jesus, “This is who you are. I love you because you are fully God. I love you because you are fully man. I love you because I can depend on you.” Take one thing you know to be true about Christ or His work and trace out in your mind the difference that it should make on the way you think and live. “Jesus, you have died that I might be forgiven. That means my sins are no longer counted against me. That means I have complete peace with God. Jesus, I believe that. I believe you are my only means of forgiveness and I believe that your work is more than enough.”

2. Work at filling up your hearts with love for Christ. We live in such a feeling centered age that this may sound strange to us, but if I am not feeling love towards my children, I don’t just sit back, I need to work at filling up my hearts with love for them and the same is true with Jesus Christ. There are so many reasons to love Him, you can just pick one and then set your heart on it like a bulldog with a bone. You say, but I don’t know where to start? Look for Jesus in your pastor’s sermons. When you go to listen to preaching, ask God, please show me why I should love Jesus more as a result of what the pastor says? Look for Jesus in your Bible reading. When you study a passage ask yourself what does it tell you about Jesus that gives you reason to love Him. Study the gospels over and over and over. We know that Jesus reveals God to us, so as you study the gospels, keep asking yourself what is Jesus teaching me about what God is like? One of the simple things you might do and this is perhaps too obvious, but sing Christ centered songs. You may not feel like singing right away, sure, I have been there, but sing songs that remind you of who Christ is and sing them until your heart begins to heat up. Or if you are like me and can’t sing, marry a woman who can sing or have daughters that can sing and try to sing along with them. (Joking of course, but it is nice!)

3. Meditate, study, and find great joy in hearing about Christ. Don’t become discouraged just because some of the things that we learn about Christ are mysterious, think about them anyway. We sometimes grow best by thinking about the truths that are most mysterious. Like the incarnation, you start thinking about that and sometimes you can think about it only for a few moments because it seems so difficult, but don’t stop there. Don’t let anyone stop you from thinking long and hard about these things by saying, oh they are dry and dusty doctrines, you should just love Jesus. Jesus is a person and these truths help us understand that person. They are your life. Of course you don’t study them to argue them, you study them to love him but study them! Go to some of the old, dead guys and start reading. I know that their words can be so hard to understand, but man, this is Jesus we are talking about and some of these men were given such great insight into the person of Christ. Candy floss is easier to eat than steak, but less filling if you know what I mean. Don’t settle. And encourage your pastor, when he goes deep into the person of Christ, sit up in your seat in church, nod your head, go up to him afterward and thank him for telling you about Christ. Ask him to recommend some books and tapes that you could listen to in order to help you understand Jesus better.

4. Instead of simply going through the motions of your spiritual duties, think a little bit about what you are actually doing and seek to do what God is calling you to do in the way that God calls you to do it.

If you are feeling like God is so far away and you are just so cold, then you might just try to go back to the beginning with some of the things God has called you to do. Like say praying. Instead of just shooting up some words to God before a meal, stop and think, what am I really doing when I am praying? What do I need to really pray? O.k. I am talking to God. Wow, how should I talk to God? I should talk to him with fear and awe, I should know that I need him, I should come to him in boldness trusting in Christ, I should plead the promises with him. Well, fear and awe, why should I feel fear and awe? I need to remind myself of what God is like as I go to prayer. I should think for a while about my real condition and how much I need God’s help today. I should ask God as I go about doing these things to really help me believe them.

Maybe one last warning:

It’s so easy for us to talk and talk and talk about spiritual things, without ever having those spiritual things really go deep into our hearts. That’s a sure and certain path towards spiritual coldness. It is so easy for us to hear something and to get an idea of what it is about and to go out and talk about it without really ever grabbing hold of those truths in our hearts. You go to church and you hear a sermon and you understand the concept and you go out and talk about it for a day or two, but it is obvious that truth didn’t go into your heart, because there is no long term change that takes place. Don’t confuse verbal assent and the ability to talk about something with really believing and delighting in that same truth. When you come to church or go to preach, don’t be satisfied with merely talking about the Word of God or Jesus as if he were an interesting truth, like a historian might talk about George Washington or something, no, come to Jesus as if He were your life, because of course He is, and commit yourself to never talking about Jesus or listening to a sermon without at the same time working as hard as you can through the Holy Spirit that you might experience the power of those truths in your everyday life as well.

An adulterer.

A man married to over six hundred women.

A man who married a prostitute.

A traitor to his country.

A disappointment to his colleagues.

A man who threw innocent people into prison and delighted in torturing people who believed differently than he did.

A coward.

A self-righteous hypocrite.

A man who betrayed his closest friend at his moment of greatest need.

Another who at one point wondered if Jesus might be crazy.

What do these men have in common?

They are all authors of God’s Word.

When we look at God in His holiness and His majesty, it is easy for us to wonder if God would ever use people like us. And that’s a good thought as a start. It means we are at least getting a glimpse of how much better than us God really is. At the same time however, it is important we don’t use our weakness and insignificance as an excuse. Because God has made it very clear that His grace is big enough to forgive us when we really repent, to transform us into someone different than we were and to use to accomplish more than we ever thought we could.

There’s no one besides Jesus who ever had a significant ministry for Christ who actually deserved it. For the rest of us, any impact, any avenue of service, any opportunity to make Jesus look great, like the authors of Scripture, it is pure, one hundred percent, amazing grace!

In the teaching of Jesus, the astounding love of God is set forth. Jesus is the Beloved Son, but the Father has not spared him; instead he has sent him to give his life a ransom for many. In the parable of the welcoming Father, Jesus tells of the joy that his Father has in receiving lost sinners home again (Lk. 15:11-32). The story shows God’s amazing grace, for­ – as the prodigal confesses – he does not deserve to be called the son of his father, or even to be made one of his servants. But the father receives him as a son and welcomes him with a feast. The older brother is furious because he knows well his brother’s sin, but does not know at all his father’s love. The key to the parable is the contrast between the older brother and Christ himself. Jesus told the story as one of three parables after he had been criticized for eating with publicans and sinners. In each story he shows the joy, and the feast, that accompanies the finding of the lost. ‘There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents’ (Lk. 15:7, 10). Jesus understands heaven’s joy, and the love of the Father that rejoices in finding the lost. Jesus is the seeking shepherd of the first parable; he is like the woman of the second parable, who turned her house upside down to find a coin. The shepherd sought one sheep of a hundred, the woman one coin of ten; but the older brother would not seek one brother of one. In fact, not only did he fail to go to the far country to seek him, he even refused to eat with him when he came home. Not so Jesus. He, the true older brother, knows his Father’s heart. He goes seeking publicans and sinners. He eats with them, and calls them to come home to the Father.

The gospel is the message of God’s redeeming love in sending his own Son into the world. Those who understand that love will be driven to share it. They will not only rejoice to sit down with other redeemed sinners in heaven’s feast: they will seek other sinners in Christ’s name to call them home. As Christ was sent, so he sends them, and the dynamic of mission is the heart of the love of God. Again we see that mission is not an addendum. Rather, it is evidence that the church understands the gospel. The love that fulfils the law, as Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan, is the love of compassion, love modelled on the love of God.”

Edmund Clowney

I believe that that thing called Sectarianism nowadays is none other than true honesty. Be a Sectarian, my brother, be profoundly a Sectarian. I mean by that, hold everything which you see to be in God’s Word with a tighter grasp, and do not give up even the little pieces of truth. At the same time, let that Sectarianism which makes you hate another man because he does not see with you – let that be far from you! but never consent to that unholy league and covenant which seems to be rife throughout our country, which would put a padlock on the mouth of every man and send us all about as if we were dumb: which says to me, ‘You must not speak against the errors of such a church,’ and to another, ‘You must not reply.’ We cannot but speak! If we did not, the stones in the street might cry out against us. That kind of charity is unknown to the gospel.

Now hear the Word of God! ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not “-What? “shall get to heaven some other way?” – ‘shall be damned;’ that is the gospel. You perceive how boldly it launches out its censure. It does not pretend, ‘you may reject me and go by another road, and at last get safely to your journey’s end!’ No, no, no; you ‘shall be damned’ it says. Do you not perceive how Christ puts it?

Some teachers come into the world and say to all others, ‘Yes, gentlemen, by your leave, you are all right. I have a point or two that you have not taught. You just make room for me; I will not turn you out; I can stand in the same temple as yourself.’ But hear what Christ says:- ‘All that ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but, the sheep did not hear them.’ Hear what his servant Paul says, ‘Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, – what then? “Let him be excused for his mistake?” No; but, “Let him be accursed”‘ Now, this is strong language, but mark you, this is just how the Christian ought to live. As the gospel is very fearless in what it has to say, so let the Christian always be. It strikes me that a ‘living’ which becomes the gospel of Christ, is always a bold and fearless kind of living.

Some people go crawling through the world as if they asked some great man’s permission to live. They do not know their own minds; they take their words out of their mouths and look at them, and ask a friend or two’s opinion. ‘What do you think of these words?’ and when these friends censure them they put them in again, and will not say them. Like jellyfish, they have no backbone. Now God has made men upright, and it is a noble thing for a man to stand erect on his own feet; and it is a nobler thing still for a man to say that in Christ Jesus he has received that freedom which is freedom indeed, and therefore he will not be the slave of any man. I will live as in the sight of God, as I believe I should live, and then let man say his best or say his worst, and it shall be no more than the chirping of the grasshopper, when the sun goes down. ‘Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, or the son of man that is but a worm?’

Quit yourselves like men! Be strong! Fear not! for only so will your conversation be such as becometh the gospel of Christ.”

C.H. Spurgeon

God?

Is going to the toilet this often really the most effective use of my time?

I know, I know, bring out the violins. This was such a small difficulty in light of the kind of pain that people are experiencing throughout the world right now, but I guess it just reminded me of how tempting it is in the middle of circumstances that aren’t not going the way we planned or think best to look up and begin to argue with God.

At least it is tempting for me.

But the thing about arguing with God is that He knows everything and He loves you completely.

I mean really, think about it, how do you win an argument with someone who:

1. Knows exactly what is going to happen in the future ten years from now? A hundred years from now?
2. Knows exactly what is best for you and for the person next to you and for everyone around you?
3. Knows you better than you know yourself?
4. Knows the correct answer to every single question that has ever been asked?
4. Knows exactly what is happening in the thoughts of every single other person on the planet?
5. Loves you with such an overwhelming, unending love that He created the universe so that He could adopt you into His family and proved that love through sending His own Son into the world to die in your place so that you could be forgiven of your sins and be brought into a relationship with Him?

You don’t.

Still life can be so painful that it sometimes feels like your heart is going to burst into a million pieces and because of that, thoughts like these don’t always stop you from attempting to argue with God anyway but, perhaps, I don’t know, but maybe, hopefully they help the way you speak to Him.

Because yes, we do hurt and we do ask questions; but there are different ways to ask the same questions and going back and deliberately thinking about these kinds of truths may help you ask questions of God in your pain like a child would with a parent instead of like a judge lecturing a criminal he’s found guilty.

I am not saying all of that so much as if I were God’s defense attorney, He doesn’t need one; instead I am saying that for your good and mine.

Before we approach God with our questions, if we can, we should try to ask ourselves some questions as well:

Do the questions I am asking of God reflect the fact that I am talking to someone who knows all things?

And

Am I asking these questions of God the way I should to someone who crucified His own Son for me? To someone who loves me enough to take my hell and who is presently preparing an eternity of joy for me and is going to spend billions and billions and billions of years on end giving me blessings and kindnesses that I absolutely one hundred percent don’t deserve?

And the reason asking those kinds of questions of ourselves is so important is not so much for God’s sake but for ours, because those are the kinds of questions that are based on reality whereas the other kinds of questions that we are tempted to ask in our pain often aren’t.

When I ask questions of God as if He didn’t know all things or as if He didn’t love me, I am asking questions that because of my circumstances may feel true but no matter how true they feel, they aren’t.

God does know all.

God does love me.

Those two facts have been proved in so many different ways. Look at the universe. Look at the cross. They are rock solid realities and obviously if I am asking questions of God that are not based on those realities, then it’s going to be hard for me to ever get true answers or find real comfort in the end which is exactly what God wants for believers in the middle of their pain.

God wants us to be comforted, He wants us to know He loves us and part of finding the comfort and assurance and answers we need is by remembering the one we are asking questions of.

1. I am a means to an end. God’s glory is the end and my life is a tool He is free to use however He likes to accomplish that great goal.

2. God is a means to an end. My comfort is the end and God is the tool I try to use to get what I want.

The second way of looking at the world is a foolish man’s fantasy. The first approach is reality and when embraced brings great satisfaction and peace.

God is God. His glory is the goal of everything that exists and that is a good thing because as God He completely deserves that place. Trying to live as if that were not true will only lead to frustration because when you live as if you were the center of the world you are not living in the real world.

Determine that God will be God to you today. That your life will begin and end and center on a vision of God in His glory and make a choice to give God what He deserves in every area of your life.

By generous I don’t only mean willing to give people who need money. Instead I mean willing to give people who need it a break. Unfortunately, sometimes people who are Christians have a very difficult time being patient with others. The first irritation, the first sin, the first mistake and that person is written off as not measuring up. We may not literally cast him out of the church, but if he talks too much or if he talks too loud or if he is struggling with a particularly socially unacceptable sin, we avoid him and when we do get in conversations with him, we look for ways to get out of the conversation as quickly as possible, and keep them on the outs of the church until they leave on their own and we don’t have to feel like it’s our fault.

I decided to do a quick run through the New Testament and mark down several reasons we find there why we should be willing to forgive sin, put up with a lot of irritants and personality quirks in others and what’s more, actively reach out and do good to people like that.

1. God is patient with a world of people who are doing the exact opposite of His revealed will. (Mt. 5:33-36)
2. Jesus tells us that way we forgive others who sin against us is the way we want God to forgive us. (Mt. 6:14)
3. Jesus who reveals God was incredibly patient who often did irritating things. For example, when he would want to get alone they often followed him in great crowds without even thinking that they wouldn’t have enough to eat. And yet, how did Jesus respond? He felt compassion for them. (Mt. 14:13,14)
4. Jesus tells his disciples they should be willing to forgive a person the same offense in the same day an endless amount. (Mt. 18:22)
5. God promises that He will take care of vengeance. (Romans 12:19)
6. Every single person will have to give their own account to God for their actions. (Romans 14:12)
7. Jesus did not please himself. (Romans 15:2)
8. If I am not loving, I am nothing and love certainly includes patience. (1 Corinthians 13)
9. I could easily fall into a similar kind of sin or a different but just as serious sin apart from God holding me back. (Galatians 6:1ff)
10. I have many personality quirks myself and if people aren’t patient with me then I won’t have any long term relationships.
11. I could grieve the Holy Spirit by not being patient. (Ephesians 4:30)
12. Jesus will return soon and He will reward us for patiently enduring the evils that are done against us. (James 5)
13. God has proved over and over throughout history that He has a plan to accomplish His people’s good even right in the middle of strange and difficult and terrible and irritating kinds of things being done to them. (James 5)
14. Trusting God enough to do the right thing when there aren’t any tangible benefits or visible reasons to do so finds favor with God and follows in the footsteps of Jesus. (1 Peter 2 and 3)

Andrew Bonar