There is a dichotomy in Christendom. ‘The Santa Claus Syndrome’ versus ‘The Husband/Wife Paradigm.’ ‘The Life of If/Then’ versus ‘The Life of What’s Next’…
‘Hope’ is one of those words we splatter around like an artist flings paint on an avant garde piece called “The Non-Objective Abstraction of Mood.”
I ‘hope’ the Bengals win the Super Bowl…I ‘hope’ I hit the Powerball…I ‘hope’ everyone likes me all the time ever in my whole life (I think you have a better chance of hitting the Powerball).
What do most Christians hope for? Were you to survey this question to believers, no doubt you would have one overwhelming response: the hope of ‘heaven.’ And if we have a primary hope of heaven, we may be guilty of ‘The Santa Claus Syndrome.’
“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why…”
As children, our caregivers often threatened us with this ‘if/then’ proposition. “If you don’t behave Mark, Santa will put you on the naughty list…and then you’ll have NO presents!”
Now, while most of us would attest to the complete forgiveness of sins in Yeshua, many of us still struggle and adhere to a conditional hope based on our performance. We can’t help it! We’ve been so conditioned and live in a ‘reward for good behavior’ culture. I know this from 40 years of ‘fear-faith’…perhaps the most oxymoronic notion ever. Is fear-based faith, faith at all? If our hope is contingent on our obedience, isn’t it merely unbelief in the very gospel itself?
Were I the enemy of your soul, this would be my preferred method of bringing you to discouragement and hopelessness. “You’ve gone too far, you are hopeless, God rejects you.”
So, in what shall we hope if not heaven? Aaron Budgen speaks to the subject of our hoping, saying, “The law was designed to show us that we have no hope apart from His mercy…if our hope is based on the basis of our repentance and obedience, we are then focused on getting into heaven.” He continues, “The best we can hope for is that He will overlook our sins and we can squeak into heaven. He may not have a mansion for us but maybe a trailer in the backyard (lol)…this thinking is a belief that God still holds our sins against us.”
I believe that Budgen is right. Rather than hoping for heaven, we do well to hope in the expectation that God will show us more of who He is. The heaven issue should already be settled in our minds based on the truth of Messiah’s death and resurrection. But we are still called to hope. It is not necessary for me to hope that my wife will marry me. That has already been accomplished. However, I do hope that our relationship will mature and grow.
Similarly, our hope in Adonai involves a relational paradigm, based on what already exists, a life filled with “What’s next Abba? Would You reveal some aspect of Your nature to me today. How will You direct my steps right now? How might I bear Your fruit today?”
Knowing our Lord is the preeminent objective in our walk. Bask in His delight of you today, dear one!
“(May) the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
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