A Sliver of Hope

-
Image Source: Quino Al

We are faced with a landslide of hopelessness and despair. It is difficult to blame people for being afraid to bring children into a world as seemingly broken and cruel as the one we are currently facing. It is easy to be consumed the never-ending spiral of negativity.

Without minimizing the severity of the issues that are stacked against us, I would like to argue that we still have a sliver of hope to cling to.

For those of us who identify as Christ-followers, we believe that we have a saviour who became one of us, fully human. He suffered as completely and utterly as any human ever could. Not only did he go through excruciating torment on his personal journey to the cross, during his crucifixion he took the sins of the world upon his shoulders and experienced the anguish and pain of the entirety of humanity - even to the point of crying out in the words of the Psalmist, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Many of us have echoed Jesus' cry this past month as we have been painfully reminded of the many evils present in our society.

But the Good News of Jesus' story is that it does not end on the cross.

Out of the tomb, Jesus rose and brought hope to a suffering people. Out of the darkness of Calvary, a new community of believers rose up to become revolutionaries and vessels of healing for a broken world.
“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”
– C.S. Lewis
While there is still undoubtedly incredible hurt and pain in South Africa at the moment, I believe that out of the pits of despair, we shall rise up and experience a new world of restoration and wholeness in this country. A world where women can experience healing, perpetrators will face justice and all citizens can move forward with a sliver of hope for future generations. The journey is not going to be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." 
- Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin
Read more

The God of Running, Talents and Passions

-
Image
Over the past couple of months I have developed a passion for running.  I am not terribly good at it and I doubt I will take it very far, but something about training hard over the past couple of months has spiked an enthusiasm in me that I cannot really explain. It is during my time running on the road when I am able to clear my mind from stress and think about all the things God has been doing in my life. Image Source:  Lucas Favre Yesterday I completed my first full marathon.  It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it felt good to complete something that I had worked so long and hard to accomplish. Some of you might be wondering why someone would run for hours, putting themselves through extreme pain just to receive a T-shirt and a medal. I don't blame you. I used to wonder the same. Not everyone is passionate about the same thing. Not everyone has the same talents or skills. But I believe that God blesses everyone with talents,
Read more

Harmony of Grace

-
Image
Image Source:  张 学欢 Why did I decide to start this blog? Why call it Harmony of Grace?  One definition for the word harmony is "living in peace and mutual understanding with others." I have always been fascinated with music and in my opinion, the musical definition of the word harmony has a more accurate depiction of the word's true meaning. In musical terms, a harmony is "a note or group of notes that compliment the notes in the melody (main tune of the song)." There are many different possible harmonies, but if played/sung correctly, they all compliment the melody and emphasize the beauty of the musical arrangement as a whole. When I had my first encounter with Jesus, the concept of harmony became much more real in my life. But how does harmony have anything to do with God's grace? I believe that God's grace can be seen in the world we live in, through various means, as a complimentary harmony to God's nature an
Read more