Insisting on Hope Instead of Hurry
"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope…" 1 Timothy 1:1
I was determined this week would be different. As the man's Bible study of which I am a part launched into a new book in the Bible with Paul's first epistle to Timothy, I was struck by the prominence of the hope in Christ Paul offered. I wrote about it yesterday, and it was still near the forefront of my mind this morning. I got to lead my Sunday school class in prayer this morning and figured nothing would reinforce that hope like hearing confession of its primacy come out of my mouth publicly.
Christ teaches us to ask for what we need, and I wanted to do nothing to undermine that basic dependence. Even so, I wanted to put Him as the solid foundation for our ongoing hope front and center, before the needs and wants of the week pressed in as squatters on sacred space. Seeking to read aloud Paul's actual 1 Timothy 1:1 words to set the tone, I stretched the expectant silence in the room. A friend who often prods me with needed reminders that needs and expectations exist outside my own thoughts hissed, "People are waiting."
They always are. The weight we ascribe to the stares and the heavy, at times awkward pauses in social intercourse is often enough to keep us from taking the time to recall God's Word before we speak and act. Our ready conditioning for human approval, sharpened to an addiction over decades, is often enough for Paul's assurance that our real hope is in Jesus just out of reach. If we continue with Pastor Paul's tutelage of Pastor Timothy, we will recognize that the younger man, like us, was especially susceptible to the social pressure around him. In this noisy world, there may be nothing more pressure-packed in ordinary interaction and a few extra beats of silence as we reframe, as we recall Scripture, and as we pray.
The enemy of our souls would like to tell us that such disciplines are somewhere between selfish and unrealistic. He would foist on us the laughable notion that opportunities will evaporate never to be seen again, or even that the world will collapse, if we don't speak and act RIGHT NOW. The opposite is true. As our most focused intensity is directed toward an inner life of depending upon Jesus as our hope, we can then truly listen to and serve our fellow man. Reassured of our destiny in Him and His power in us, we don't need to use every second under people's watchful gaze to affirm our value. Instead, we can entrust our anxieties to Him and safely put ourselves second. Awareness of how to be the hands, the feet, and the mouth of Jesus the situation will blossom from our momentary rest in Him, our hope.
I was determined this week would be different. As the man's Bible study of which I am a part launched into a new book in the Bible with Paul's first epistle to Timothy, I was struck by the prominence of the hope in Christ Paul offered. I wrote about it yesterday, and it was still near the forefront of my mind this morning. I got to lead my Sunday school class in prayer this morning and figured nothing would reinforce that hope like hearing confession of its primacy come out of my mouth publicly.
Christ teaches us to ask for what we need, and I wanted to do nothing to undermine that basic dependence. Even so, I wanted to put Him as the solid foundation for our ongoing hope front and center, before the needs and wants of the week pressed in as squatters on sacred space. Seeking to read aloud Paul's actual 1 Timothy 1:1 words to set the tone, I stretched the expectant silence in the room. A friend who often prods me with needed reminders that needs and expectations exist outside my own thoughts hissed, "People are waiting."
They always are. The weight we ascribe to the stares and the heavy, at times awkward pauses in social intercourse is often enough to keep us from taking the time to recall God's Word before we speak and act. Our ready conditioning for human approval, sharpened to an addiction over decades, is often enough for Paul's assurance that our real hope is in Jesus just out of reach. If we continue with Pastor Paul's tutelage of Pastor Timothy, we will recognize that the younger man, like us, was especially susceptible to the social pressure around him. In this noisy world, there may be nothing more pressure-packed in ordinary interaction and a few extra beats of silence as we reframe, as we recall Scripture, and as we pray.
The enemy of our souls would like to tell us that such disciplines are somewhere between selfish and unrealistic. He would foist on us the laughable notion that opportunities will evaporate never to be seen again, or even that the world will collapse, if we don't speak and act RIGHT NOW. The opposite is true. As our most focused intensity is directed toward an inner life of depending upon Jesus as our hope, we can then truly listen to and serve our fellow man. Reassured of our destiny in Him and His power in us, we don't need to use every second under people's watchful gaze to affirm our value. Instead, we can entrust our anxieties to Him and safely put ourselves second. Awareness of how to be the hands, the feet, and the mouth of Jesus the situation will blossom from our momentary rest in Him, our hope.
Need to trust God daily.Thanks for the reminfer.
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