Sunday, May 25, 2008

Hope

I'm in a better frame of mind tonight. Worship does that to me. So does being with God's people.

Had to include some verses from a hymn we've sung the last two Sundays: On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand.

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

O'er all those wide extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.

No chilling winds or poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.

When I shall reach that happy place,
I'll be forever blest
For I shall see my Father's face,
And in His bosom rest.

I am bound for the Promised Land. . .

I know this sentiment could very well typify what some people really disdain about Christians, as if we're all just "pie in the sky" kind of people. And I think that's a fair criticism of a lot of Christians. But let's face it. The best thing going for being a Christian is HOPE. Hope that there's more than the muck of this life. Hope that Someone's in charge, Someone who knows what He's doing, whose intentions are good. Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for personal growth and real life change. Hope for redemption of the worse situations.

Call it cloying sentimentality, this Christian notion of eternal hope, but I've got to be honest. I don't know what any one day would look like without it.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Amen. Some days it seems as if hope is all there is, and it is faith that makes us sure of that Promised Land we cannot yet see.