Christian Living
Larry Lilly’s Letter Wednesday September 5, 2007
As I have explored and hopefully plumbed the depths of the concept of well founded hope the last few day I have been amazed at just how the loss of or a misplaced hope plays such an important part in the malaise our churches and leaders are suffering.
As pointed out earlier, hope is used 122 times in the Bible, the first being Ruth 1:12 and the last 1John 3:3. 1John 3:3 is based on what has been taught in verse 2 and is one of the most powerful verses on hope for a transformed life in the entire word of God.
1 John 3:3 “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
The preceding verse assures the believing reader that when Christ returns we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. It’s because of this hope that we even have the desire to live a better life. And the power of the author of this hope working in us assures of progress in this neglected area of Christian living. The blank, hopeless look in the eyes of so many Christians is, at least in part, a troubling testimony to the failure of those of us charged with teaching the whole counsel of God to effectively communicate the blessed hope and help our students apply the truth to their daily living.
We live in what will be called, “The Golden Age Of Slogans.” “WWJD” “I Found It”
“One More For Jesus” and while these really are great slogans very few people are moved by them. Why is this? Could it be that an avowed socialist understood the reason for the overall failure of the myriad of slogans to motivate the mass of Christianity to a more wholesome life style? George Bernard Shaw died in 1950 sans the cleansing blood of Christ. He was no friend of democracy or Christ. So at least pay attention to how those we are trying to reach perceive many of our efforts.
“This is true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. And also the only real tragedy in life is the being used by personally minded men for purposes which you recognize to be base.”
Have you ever been “used?” By a religious person? Did you permit this experience to “sour” your outlook on life? I knew a man, only a few years older than me, who in the burning idealism of youth, left the family business for a while to help a freedom fighter salvage a struggling poverty and corruption riddled country from the tyrant who ran it. When he realized how base Castro was he spent several years in the “sour” mode correctly feeling he had been “used.” I can call the names of several drunkards who correctly feel they were in their zeal fraudulently used by respected religious users.
The “trinketeering” of modern religion, with its boatloads of slogans is satisfying to those who suffer from a “deep shallowness” of soul expressed by their constant harping that the world, the church and God does not exist for the sole purpose of making them happy.
To become Christlike is not to be absorbed into some new exhilarating sloganeering movement, but to soberly consider the fact of seeing Him, with full understanding, and today, becoming a little more like Him. This hope is a true progressive sanctifying hope.
Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.
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