God-Sized Hope

The poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, "Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all." For Christians, a God-sized hope goes even deeper.

The book of Revelation, nestled at the very end of the Bible, is full of hope. It shows us a hope of something better. A verse that provides great confidence in my own life is 21:5. It states: "Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Within this passage, God demonstrates the hope that we have in Him.

While this passage offers hope in different ways, the most significant source comes in a look towards heaven. Too often we are so caught up in our daily lives, we forget our ultimate goal. Heaven seems like a faraway place we will go a very long time from now. Our minds can hardly grasp it. But there is a longing within each child of God for it.

Have you ever had that moment where you are longing for something but don't know what it is? Deep within, something screams out for something more. There have been times when I have stared in awe at the ocean, overwhelmed by its magnitude and beauty. At the same time, though, I know I have more for which to look forward. I am longing for something even more magnificent than a sparkling ocean. I am yearning for a time when I am with the Creator, not the creation. That feeling is the hope that heaven offers.

Although this world has much to offer, our hope in heaven says we were made for something grander than this world. I am not alone in this. The apostle Simon Peter also looked forward to it. Second Peter 3:13 shows his longing: "We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of the righteous." We are homesick for somewhere we have never been. That is the hope that gets Christians through the tough times.

One of my son's favorite toys is a shape sorter. This is one of those "educational" toys that teaches a child the conceptual difference between shapes. Each shape has an identical shaped hole it fits into. The square shape simply won't fit in the triangle hole. It is made for the square hole. Sometimes I feel like a square shape trying to fit into a triangle hole. I try and try to fit into this world but I was made for something different. I was made for heaven. As I read my Bible and see the wonderful thing God has in store when I finally meet Him face to face, I have great hope.

A closer look at Revelation 21:5 reveals another source of hope. John, the author of Revelation, quotes God as saying, "Behold, I make all things new." By looking at the book of Genesis, we can see that God is the Creator. In the last book of the Bible, we see God is still in the process of creating. He is not finished. He is always in the act of creating. Right now, as you read this paragraph, God is creating. He is creating new things in your life. He is toiling away as He seeks to accomplish His purposes through you. Just like other believers, I am not perfect. It offers me great hope to know that He is not finished with me yet.

Our ultimate hope lies in the presence of God. While we have looked at the statement, "Behold, I make all things new," we must look back and see who said it. God alone has the power to create. In addition, the Creator wants a relationship with His creation.

We were made with a yearning to be in the presence God. When I was a teenager, I babysat for a girl that was desperately afraid of being alone. She even needed someone in her room while she fell asleep. She wanted the constant presence of a caregiver. While some might say she was a little spoiled, I think she paints a picture of what our relationship with God should be like. God is an ever constant presence in our life, offering us hope, but do we invite him in? Do we request His presence in every aspect of our lives? We were created just like that little girl. We were made to crave the presence of the Father. When we lose sight of that, we lose our hope.
With the hope God offers, we, as Christians, can live with the courage and assurance that God is fulfilling His promises each day in our lives. It is with that knowledge that we have the confidence that we can accomplish everything God has called us to do.