Max Lucado on ‘Hope’

I am reading through a small book by Max Lucado entitled God Came Near.  In this book, Lucado is attempting to reintroduce the audience to Christ to experience anew the wonder of the Christ-child.  One passage he looks to is found in account of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17.  Specifically, look to verse 3, “And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.” 

We know this account.  We know this story.  However, Lucado introduced a thought I had never thought of.  Deuteronomy 34 records the death of Moses, “1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.”

Moses, the man who had led Israel from captivity to the wilderness, entrusted with the Law, and pleaded with God not to forsake the adulterous nation would not see the fruition of his dreams.  Undoubtedly, Moses had dreamed of a time when he would no more wander.  Perhaps even Moses looked for the Messiah who would free the people from the Law.  Instead of victoriously leading the people into their promised inheritance, Moses was forced to view it from afar, and then he died.  It was his own doing.  Moses disobeyed God in Numbers 20.  This disobedience led to his inability to lead the people across the Jordan. 

Lucado, recalls all this in his chapter on Hope.  To paraphrase Lucado, “Hope is not getting what you want, but rather getting that which you never dreamed possible.”  In his illustration, he recalls Moses and the hope that he must have had that drove him to follow God in leading the people to the Promised Land only to be denied entrance.  However, Lucado points out that Moses was honored because his first visit to the Promised Land, is recorded in Matthew 17 as Moses is seen conversing with the prophet Elijah and the transfigured Christ.

There he stands!  He is on that sacred soil in the presence of the Son of God.  He had not dared to hope for this much, but it happened anyway.  This week, I will preach on Esther.  Every little girl grows up dreaming about being a princess, but I doubt many aspire to be a concubine.  But there she is, in the king’s palace at just the right time to save her people. 

You may not be where you wish you were.  Like Moses, you may look distantly across a great divide on a dream that seems unobtainable.  Perhaps you, like Esther, find yourself in a situation that seems bleak and dismal.  Wherever you are today, remember, hope is not in getting what you want, but  that which you never dreamed possible.

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

-Matthew 19:26-

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What is New?

 

Happy New Year!  So many people talk about a new year being a new beginning, but the truth of the matter is that it is really just a continuation of the previous year.  We have the same bills.  We have the same commitments.  We have the same trials and temptations.  So far, I really cannot tell a difference between 2010 and 2009, but our society and culture is desperate for something new and fresh.  

Where can we find this fresh start that so many are looking for and the peace that comes from being released from all the weight of previous mistakes and failings?  Lamentations 3:22-23 states, “²² The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;  his mercies never come to an end;  ²³they are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.”  I can only find renewal and refreshment in my relationship with God. 

That being said, we do not get closer to God by going to church, giving an offering, nor do we grow closer to God solely through Bible study and prayer.  No, we grow closer to God when the realization of our need for Him causes us to search for Him.  Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”  We will find God when we search for Him with all our heart.  

Jesus continues this thought in Matthew 6:30-33 when He says, “³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Essentially, the weight is lifted off our shoulders and we are freed from these burdens through the realization of God’s provision. 

We no longer have to worry about the past or the future.  Our only concern is to love God with all our heart in the very moment we are living.  This love and passion for Him will cause us to react. We will study the Word of God not for gain, but as a response to our passion for Him.  We will pray out of response to our love for Him.  We will do all the things we know we should (ie go to church, give, work, evangelize, etc) not because we are trying to do what is right, but as a result of knowing God more intimately than the day before. 

Instead of setting goals for the year in going to church or joining the choir, let us all make our only goal to passionately seek God with all our heart.  The giving, going, and growing will be caused by Him being at work in our hearts.  This year, Love With All… 

  ³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the great and first commandment.”

 

-Matthew 22:36-38-

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The Birth of Hope, the Fulfillment of Faithfulness.

I was asked to prepare a devotional for a recent Sunday School Class’ Christmas party.  I began to think about Christmas and wonder if there is anything new, anything different or groundbreaking that I could speak about.  After much contemplation, I discovered that the lack of “new” and “exciting” topics centered on Christmas is what makes the account of Christ’s birth so powerful.

The historical account of the birth of Jesus is still about a scared young virgin entrusted to give birth to and raise the Son of God.  It is still about Joseph, a simple and lowly carpenter, finding the courage to provide for Jehova-Jireh, the Lord of provision.  It is still about Angels who witnessed the salvation of mankind in the All-Powerful Creator’s transition into an Entirely Helpless infant.

Christmas is powerful because it is the physical birth of Hope.  While man wandered in the dark, he remembered the promise of God to provide for Salvation.  The birth of Christ was the initiation of that process, while the Cross was the fulfillment of His faithfulness to all mankind, and the Empty Tomb remains a symbol of fact that Christ’s atoning work is finished!

This Christmas, gaze in wonder at the manger and remember the cross.  Pear into the Nativity and see Mary kneeling beside her child in amazement and envision her kneeling beside His lifeless body weeping in agony.  Look to the Wise Men bringing their gifts and remember that Jesus was a gift at birth and gave yet another gift on the cross…

 ¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 ¹¹Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹²remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace…

-Ephesians 2:1-14-

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