The Gift of a Hearty Hope
From 1 Timothy 1 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope....
In The Pilgrim's Regress, C.S. Lewis draws the reader into his review of intellectual history by personifying big ideas. John is Lewis's pragmatic protagonist representing all of us likely to pick up the thinking that we grasp most protects us in the moment. John is admonished by History, "There is no avoiding danger in our country. Do you know what happens to people who set about learning to skate with the determination to get no falls? They fall as often as the rest of us, and they cannot skate again."
Paul's opening words in his very personal epistle to Timothy strengthen similarly. Before Paul unpacks pastoral practicalities throughout the letter, he has a carry-on present they can both enjoy. This is the kind of gift too precious to be packed away which is handled lovingly by the traveling father in the faith. What is this present that the mighty apostle would let flow from his pen almost as soon as Paul's title and commission? Hope matters that much.
Paul's is not a handed down hope in the sense that Paul can pass it on like a stuffed animal from childhood because he has outgrown it. This, Paul says to Timothy and by extension to Timothy's flock in various stages of maturity or immaturity, is OUR hope. Even if we cannot imagine Paul having any fun on skates, we can imagine him grasping and using the analogy immediately.
Paul's heart in the opening verse bubbles with his hope. I fall, kid. I fell yesterday, and I fell again this morning. Timothy, I am giving you access to something, Someone, I've got to draw from in order to fall six times and rise the seventh (Proverbs 24:16). You need this Gift in order to keep digging in my suitcase for the lesser gift of the answers you need.
The Gospel of hope in Jesus is essential because the false gospel of the stiff upper lip is deadly over time. Should Timothy dig in in Ephesus because he wants to be like Pastor Paul's impressive resolve at it starchiest, this motive will fail him and weigh him down more than before. Even if Timothy were able for a season to keep up appearances because he wants to pantomime Paul, Timothy's congregation would be powerless and quickly grow disillusioned.
A copy of a copy of a copy in the gray smudge, and a trigger to hopelessness for those desperate to behold Christ the Original four and by Whom we were made. Timothy won't quite be able to fashion himself into Paul Junior, and Timothy's churchgoers' masquerade as little Timothys will quickly wear thin. Fail here and cascade downward to despondency with Proverbs 18:14. "The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?"
If, however, what Paul can pass on is the habit, the discipline of hoping in Christ, again, that will travel, transcend, transverse, and translate. Hope in Christ is not confined to one generation, one ZIP Code, one kind of problem. Hope in Christ redoubles and expands as it is applied by real people, fallible and admired both.
Hope in Christ turns us to the pages of the Scripture He says testifies to Him (John 5:39), convinces us we will find answers there, and convinces us to reapply that Truth even when we fail miserably the first, the second, and the third time.
Our hope in Christ is a hearty fire which burns but is not consumed, which places all the more as time goes by and which cast a light which can be seen over a much greater distance than the particulars of Paul, or Timothy, or us in our day. Ignite hope, and by it see everyone and everything else.
In The Pilgrim's Regress, C.S. Lewis draws the reader into his review of intellectual history by personifying big ideas. John is Lewis's pragmatic protagonist representing all of us likely to pick up the thinking that we grasp most protects us in the moment. John is admonished by History, "There is no avoiding danger in our country. Do you know what happens to people who set about learning to skate with the determination to get no falls? They fall as often as the rest of us, and they cannot skate again."
Paul's opening words in his very personal epistle to Timothy strengthen similarly. Before Paul unpacks pastoral practicalities throughout the letter, he has a carry-on present they can both enjoy. This is the kind of gift too precious to be packed away which is handled lovingly by the traveling father in the faith. What is this present that the mighty apostle would let flow from his pen almost as soon as Paul's title and commission? Hope matters that much.
Paul's is not a handed down hope in the sense that Paul can pass it on like a stuffed animal from childhood because he has outgrown it. This, Paul says to Timothy and by extension to Timothy's flock in various stages of maturity or immaturity, is OUR hope. Even if we cannot imagine Paul having any fun on skates, we can imagine him grasping and using the analogy immediately.
Paul's heart in the opening verse bubbles with his hope. I fall, kid. I fell yesterday, and I fell again this morning. Timothy, I am giving you access to something, Someone, I've got to draw from in order to fall six times and rise the seventh (Proverbs 24:16). You need this Gift in order to keep digging in my suitcase for the lesser gift of the answers you need.
The Gospel of hope in Jesus is essential because the false gospel of the stiff upper lip is deadly over time. Should Timothy dig in in Ephesus because he wants to be like Pastor Paul's impressive resolve at it starchiest, this motive will fail him and weigh him down more than before. Even if Timothy were able for a season to keep up appearances because he wants to pantomime Paul, Timothy's congregation would be powerless and quickly grow disillusioned.
A copy of a copy of a copy in the gray smudge, and a trigger to hopelessness for those desperate to behold Christ the Original four and by Whom we were made. Timothy won't quite be able to fashion himself into Paul Junior, and Timothy's churchgoers' masquerade as little Timothys will quickly wear thin. Fail here and cascade downward to despondency with Proverbs 18:14. "The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?"
If, however, what Paul can pass on is the habit, the discipline of hoping in Christ, again, that will travel, transcend, transverse, and translate. Hope in Christ is not confined to one generation, one ZIP Code, one kind of problem. Hope in Christ redoubles and expands as it is applied by real people, fallible and admired both.
Hope in Christ turns us to the pages of the Scripture He says testifies to Him (John 5:39), convinces us we will find answers there, and convinces us to reapply that Truth even when we fail miserably the first, the second, and the third time.
Our hope in Christ is a hearty fire which burns but is not consumed, which places all the more as time goes by and which cast a light which can be seen over a much greater distance than the particulars of Paul, or Timothy, or us in our day. Ignite hope, and by it see everyone and everything else.
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