Hope for Life Blog

There’s an old story about an elderly woman who was told by her physician that she probably wouldn’t live much longer. Soon there after, she called in her family to discuss her funeral arrangements. They talked about how the service would be, where she would be buried, what kind of casket would be used, etc. As the conversation was winding down, the woman remarked, “There’s one thing that’s very important: I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”

Her children were understandably puzzled by that remark, and one of them couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Mom,” he said, “what are you talking about?”

“I remember eating with my family when I was a young girl,” the woman began, “Each of us would help clear away the dishes. Every once in a while, mom would tell us, ‘Save your fork!’ We children knew what that meant. It meant that mom had fixed us a pie or a cake or some sort of treat. When she said ‘Save your fork!’, that meant the best was yet to come. So I want to be buried with a fork in my hand, for the best is yet to come!”

It’s a lovely story, a beautiful illustration of hope. In Spanish, the word “esperar” means “hope,” but it also means “wait.” You wait for a bus, and you hope it’s coming; the same word is used in both cases. It’s the same in the biblical languages. Our hope is built around the expectation of something that is to come.

The apostle Paul wrote to a group of new Christians in the city of Thessalonica, talking of the reputation these Christians had. He wrote “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10) That’s a beautiful description of a Christian’s life: turning away from an old life, serving God and waiting for Jesus to come back. We have hope because we are waiting for someone. He will bring us something wonderful, a life without pain or sadness.

We have hope because we know the best is yet to come. We have hope because we are waiting, waiting for our Lord to come back.

So save your fork!

They dragged the woman to the temple. Caught in the very act of adultery! Her cries for mercy went unheeded. This group wasn’t interested in compassion or justice. (Where was the man this woman had been with? The Law of Moses said that both were to be judged.) This woman was a pawn in a political game, a useful tool to trap this troublesome teacher named Jesus of Nazareth.

“Our law says this woman should be stoned. What do you say?” they asked Jesus with a sneer, throwing the woman at Jesus’ feet. Would this sinner-loving Nazarene dare to say that the Law should be ignored, that the woman should be set free? If he did, these Jewish leaders could immediately denounce his entire ministry as a fraud.

Or would Jesus dare to call for capital punishment, putting him at odds with Roman law which did not give the Jews the right to employ the death penalty? It was a perfect trap, and these men knew it.

Infuriatingly, Jesus refused to answer. Instead, he sat and wrote in the dirt with his finger. “Answer us! Answer the question,” the crowd insisted.

Finally Jesus, looked up, met their gaze, and said, “Fine. Stone her. But let the first stone be thrown by the one among you who has no sin.” With those words, the accusers became the accused. The trap they had set for Jesus had backfired. One by one, they slipped away, each very conscious of his own sin.

Jesus stood alone with the woman and asked, “Does no one condemn you?”

“No,” she answered quietly.

“Then I don’t condemn you either. Go and leave your life of sin.” ( John 8:1-11)

I wish Jesus were here today to stop me when I have a stone in my hand, to remind me that I am as much a sinner as anyone else. I wish he were here to stand up for those who are attacked and demeaned because of the mistakes they’ve made. I wish he were here to say, “Go ahead, label other people as sinners … as long as you’ve never made a mistake.”

Jesus’ followers need to stand up for those who have messed up, who have been caught red-handed in a sinful lifestyle. We need to say to them “Stop. Change. Leave your life of sin.” But we also need to say, “I’m a sinner too. I need God’s grace as much as you do.”

The church was meant to be a refuge, a gathering of sinners covered by grace, a collection of strugglers seeking to overcome sin. It’s not meant to be a rock-throwing society.

If you’ve had rocks hurled your way, please know that they were thrown without Jesus’ authorization. Come back. Try again. There are good people who are really trying to live like Jesus who will love you, accept you and help you to change. Jesus doesn’t want to condemn. He wants to save. His followers should feel the same.

This time of year brings the beginning of the school year here in the U.S. It always reminds me of a story I heard from Stanley Shipp, a man who worked with Herald of Truth, where I now work.

Stanley told about meeting a young man who told him that he was studying medicine. “What for?,” Stanley asked.

“To become a doctor,” the young man replied with a smile.

“What for?”

“So that I can help people not to be sick.”

“What for?”

“So they can live longer lives.”

“What for?”

“Well, I don’t know…” the young medical student stammered.

“That,” Stanley said with a smile, “is where I’ve got something to share with you.”

What’s the point of living longer if we don’t know what to do with the extra time? There has to be more of a purpose to life than just avoiding death. That’s where science can sell us short and modern philosophies can leave us cold. If our whole purpose is to live a few years then pass into oblivion, then there’s really not much of a point to life.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Some complain that Christianity is just a “pie in the sky” religion, merely holding out hope of something after this life. They fail to see that without hope for life after death, there can be no true hope in this life. There can be no meaning. There can be no purpose.

Jesus came to bring life, life to the fullest. He is no “pale Galilean” that steals the joy from life; he is the one who can make sense out of our existence here. He can answer the “What for?” that stares each of us in the face. He can take empty lives and turn them into lives of meaning.

If you’re much of an Internet user, you’ve probably become acquainted with what are called social networking sites, like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter. These websites try to help people stay in touch with one another, help them make new friends and discover new business contacts. They use terms like “communities,” “friends,” and “groups,” to create a feeling of togetherness.

I’m admittedly a fan of such sites. I love being able to find old classmates or keep in touch with distant relatives. I like the opportunities these sites give me to maintain contact with people without having to become too involved. I can quickly say “hi” and go on with other things.

Therein lies the problem of course. However pleasant these quick exchanges with others may be, they are almost certain to be shallow and often somewhat insincere. My wife asked me the other day about someone, and I replied that I didn’t know them. She said, “But you’re friends with them on Facebook!” That was a good reminder of the difference between Internet relationships and real relationships. Internet relationships can exist between strangers who share a common interest, but have no desire to truly get to know one another.

Because of that, I cringed a bit the other day when reading about “online churches” that allow people to “go to church” in the comfort of their own homes. Just as social networking sites are a pale imitation of face-to-face relationships, so these online churches cannot be compared to actual interaction with other believers. Connected doesn’t mean community. We need to pray, hear sermons, etc., but we also need the community that is the church. As the apostle John wrote, “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). We can’t really have a relationship with God if we don’t have a relationship with other people.

Are you connected to a community of believers? If you’re a Christian, do you have a church home? If you’re not a Christian, what’s keeping you from giving yourself to God and entering into a relationship with Him? We all need community.

They were fishermen, men who worked the Lake of Galilee in northern Israel. The lake was full of fish, and a man could make a good living working there, especially if he knew what he was doing. Simon and Andrew, brothers born into a family of fishermen, knew their trade. It might not make them rich, but they would never go hungry. It was a safe, secure way of life.

The account of what happened is fairly brief: “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:16-18).

We do need to understand that this wasn’t the first time Andrew and his brother had seen Jesus; they had spent a day with him once, listening to his teachings. (John 1:35-42). Still, I can’t help but be amazed at what happens when Jesus called these men. They left their nets and followed him. More than nets, they left their father and a thriving fishing business. They left their home and the life they knew.

How did Jesus convince them? Did he lay out an educational plan of the training they would receive over the next few years? Did he discuss health coverage and benefits? No. Jesus didn’t even talk to them about eternal life, the greatest benefit of all. He merely said, “Come, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Jesus offered them a life of purpose. He offered them the chance to be involved in the work that God is doing in this world. That was enough to make them leave the comfortable life they had.

Jesus still says, “Come, follow me.” There’s more to it, of course, but in the end, it comes down to a simple invitation. Come. Come let me give purpose to your life. Come be a part of God’s activity in this world.

If you are totally satisfied with your life now, if you have no desire to do more and be more, then Jesus’ offer won’t interest you. If you’re pleased with the present state of the world and don’t feel any urge to work to make it better, you may not see the point.

BUT if you’ve been waiting for the chance to be part of something bigger than yourself, the chance is here. The time is now. “Come, follow me,” Jesus says. The offer still stands.

My back hurts today. A reminder of yard work done a few days ago. My left heel hurts, the result of a heel spur that has developed over time. My knee was bothering me a bit this morning, that chronic tendonitis that shows up every once in a while. Shall I go on?

Of course not. You’ve got your own list of aches and pains, and, if you’re like me, the list grows longer every year. My father, with the effects of three decades more of life than I have, is currently in the hospital due to a degenerative condition.

As those renowned philosophers the Rolling Stones said, “What a drag it is getting old.”

The Bible has this to say: “[i]Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.[/i]” (2 Corinthians 4:16) That’s an encouraging point of view! No one can deny that our bodies are slowly wearing out; that’s a discouraging fact if this life is all we have. But God gives us another chance, another reality. Our physical selves grow older, but God is willing to renew our inner beings, if we’ll let him.

If we keep reading there in 2 Corinthians, we read: “[i]For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.[/i]” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) This life doesn’t have to be all there is. Those of us who are Christians can look forward to a wonderful life that has not end. We can’t see it yet, but we know it’s there. We know by faith.

We can live accepting the fact that each day will grow more painful, that each year will find our bodies weaker and weaker. Or we can go to God in faith and let him renew us on the inside, making us stronger and stronger each day. If you aren’t living this reality, let me tell you about what God can do for you, of the hope he can give you for this life and the life to come.

Grace and peace,
Tim Archer

My computer has a folder of Temporary Items. It’s full of data that was once needed, but isn’t currently necessary. I don’t intentionally create those files; they seem to appear out of thin air, occupying space on my computer. Those who know about computers say that these files need to be deleted now and again, or they will slow down my computer’s operating system. One rule of thumb says that if the date on those files isn’t today’s date, they can be safely erased.

I’ve got a similar folder inside my head. Unfortunately, the contents of this folder aren’t as harmless as what’s inside the Temporary Items on my computer. This folder contains a complete archive of bad things that have happened in the past, both things that I’ve done and things that have been done to me. I’ve got video, audio, and text, a whole multimedia display of negativity. When I least want them too, these things worm their way out of my past into my present.

I remember the times I embarrassed myself. I remember the times that I hurt other people. I remember my failures. I remember my sin.

I remember the times I was mistreated. I remember the ways that people hurt me, the things they said, the things they did. I remember those times that other people let me down.

None of that does me any good. Those things from the past only serve to slow things down, to spoil today with yesterday’s hurts. Like those temporary files on my computer, what I really need to do is get rid of them.

The apostle Paul wrote: “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” ([i]Philippians 3:13-14[/i]) We have to put our past in the past and set our eyes on what lies ahead. We have a God who is willing to forgive anything and everything that we’ve done, if we’ll only let him. And he’ll teach us to do the same with other people.

If your mind is cluttered with yesterday’s hurts, let God help you clean it out. Let him teach you to look forward, not backward. Let him show you the prize that’s waiting and help you to focus on it.

Grace and peace,
Tim Archer

I don’t like paying taxes. I especially don’t like the whole process of filing taxes here in the United States. It’s amazing how complicated our tax code has gotten. In 1913, the tax code was just over 400 pages long. The instructions for filing consisted of two pages. In 2008, the code had grown to over 67,000 pages; the instructions for filling out the basic form, the 1040, had grown to 155 pages. The complexity of accurately filing taxes fuels an entire tax-preparation industry. Because of that, most of us feel a bit of anxiety when filing taxes: Did I get everything right?

Some people feel a similar anxiety when they think about God. Did I get everything right? Have I made amends for all the bad things I’ve done? Have I done enough good things? Did I say the right words, go to the right places, think the right thoughts? Even though the Bible isn’t as long as the U.S. tax code, the consequences of being wrong can fill anyone’s heart with fear.

If you feel nervous when you think about standing before God on the Day of Judgment, you might be surprised at something the apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Peace? Peace with God? How can we have peace with God when we have to constantly worry about getting everything right in order to please him? The answer to that question is, we can’t. If our being right with God depends on us and what we’ve done, we’ll never be at peace. But look at the first part of what Paul says: “Since we have been justified through faith.” We can have peace with God because our future doesn’t depend on us doing everything right. Writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It’s not about what we’ve done; it’s about being saved through faith in the gift that God has to offer us.

God expects us to respond to him in faith, committing ourselves to change our lives, washing away our sins in baptism. But none of that is done as a work, none of that is done to earn salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God, and we can rest assured that God wants to give it to us. We might worry when we mail in our taxes, but when it comes to being right with God, peace should be all we feel.

Grace and peace,
Tim Archer

Jim Eliot had decided to go to Ecuador, seeking to take God’s good news to indigenous tribes who had never heard of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately he lost his life in the effort, being murdered by the very Indians he sought to teach. Later, however, Jim’s widow Elisabeth was able to go to those same aboriginal people and teach them about Jesus.

Years before going to Ecuador, Jim had written in his diary some intriguing words. He wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” That’s a powerful statement. It is not foolish to give up this life (which can’t be kept) to gain a life that can’t be lost (eternal life). Whatever we have to do in this life to obtain eternal life is certainly worth it.

Jesus stated it in even stronger terms. Not only is it not foolish to give up this life to obtain eternal life, it’s necessary. Listen to how the writer Luke reports it: [i]“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”[/i] (Luke 9:23-25) Jesus said that the only way to save our life is to lose it. That is, the only way to obtain eternal life is to let go of this life. We have to be willing to turn our back on all this world offers.

The apostle Paul wrote: [i]“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”[/i] (Romans 8:18) In another letter, he wrote, [i]“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”[/i] (2 Corinthians 4:17) What he is saying is that any suffering that we go through in this life is nothing compared to an eternity in the presence of God. Think about it. What if we could draw a line that stretched for all eternity? (That’s obviously impossible, but use your imagination). In that timeline that has no end, how much space would we dedicate to our life here on earth? If we drew the tiniest dot, a mere point on that line, it would be far too large. This life is nothing compared to the one to come.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Don’t spend so much time focused on a life that can’t be kept that you miss out on the life that can’t be lost.

Grace and peace,
Tim Archer

There were two brothers who were the richest men in that small town. They were also the meanest and most immoral of men. When one of them died, the other went to the preacher of the local church and asked him to do the funeral. He said that he would give the church $25,000 if the preacher would say that his brother was a saint. “But I can’t do that!” said the preacher, “Everyone knows what kind of man your brother was.” But the more he thought about it, he realized that the church really needed that money. So on the day of the funeral he got up and said, “This man was a lying, cheating, stealing, wicked old man. But next to his brother, he was a saint.”

Someday, when we’re gone, somebody is going to have to stand up and say a few words about our lives. When they stand up to talk about us, will it be an easy task or a hard one? Will they struggle to find something good to say or will they struggle to choose between all of the uplifting stories told of your life?

I remember when I was a student at Abilene Christian University, Jim Dotson, the preacher at Brookwood Way Church of Christ in Mansfield, Ohio, preached a funeral sermon that became famous. His sermon was videotaped and can still be viewed in the ACU library. Dotson’s sermon did not become famous because of its content nor because of the outstanding delivery. Dotson’s funeral sermon became famous because he preached his own funeral. Dying of cancer, he videotaped the funeral sermon. He spoke about the Christian’s victory over death.

It’s a remarkable thing to preach your own funeral. That is, it’s remarkable to videotape yourself speaking so that everyone hears the exact words that you wanted them to hear. But the fact is, we all do our own funeral sermons. By the way we live. No matter what the minister says at the service itself, our lives will leave behind their own testimony, for good or for bad.

So what does your sermon sound like so far? Is it full of jokes and stories, but little substance? Is it a shining example of what everyone would like their life to be? Or, to borrow a phrase from a calendar I saw, is the main purpose of your life to serve as a warning for others?

Make someone’s job a little easier! Don’t make them hunt and scrounge for something good to say. Don’t make it hard for them to find words of comfort for those left behind. Live such a life that your funeral will be a celebration of triumph, a joyous remembrance of a life well lived.

Grace and peace,
Tim Archer