Hope for the future

Has Life been hectic for anyone else? I’ve heard it said that when it rains it pours, celebrity deaths comes in sets of three and Murphy’s Law should be included in the laws of thermodynamics. I’ve been working twenty-one days straight- 12 hour stints, if you factor in the drive time and last night we had to rush to the emergency room, so I’m truly running on near empty.

God didn’t actually promise a rose garden but what He did, was actually cursed us with one. Now what I mean by that is, that while rose bushes come with beautiful fragrant flowers, they still are covered with thorns. Most of us have lived long enough to know that, while life can be full of good time, there are still many hard times to go around. We have no problem protecting our children when they are young from the realities that lurk out in life’s shadows. However, when they turn eighteen we launch them into a pseudo- freedom filled with car payments, insurance and a myriad of other bills.

As I have opportunities to talk to young people today, it is disheartening to hear that many claim they don’t believe in God. The reason they give is that the world is just too full of pain and suffering to believe in an omnipotent being. They can’t fathom that an all loving creator would leave them to flounder out in life’s troubled oceans. Even very young children ask “why would God allow me to hurt myself if He loves me?”

With all the greed in the world, extreme poverty and low wages it sometimes takes an entire month of work to pay our rent.  It’s hard to see how paying $ 4.50 a gallon for gasoline or $ 4.00 for a pound of peas will spur our economy. Do you remember in the classic movie “The Wizard of Oz” where Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man discover that the image of the great powerful Wizard of Oz is really a balding, old man standing behind a curtain manipulating the image through mechanical controls?

I don’t know what I would do; I don’t know how I would cope with this life if I did not believe in God. While the men behind the curtain continue to be war mongers manipulating the world’s oil prices, food production and corporate profits, it’s clear to me that our only hope for a future must begin  with the return of the King and the restoration of God’s millennium kingdom, where Jesus Christ will rule and reign with an iron scepter.

Our kids are our future. What are we leaving them with when their only option for employment is flipping hamburger patties at In and Out Burger? Does anyone else see a trend appearing when we stand helpless as mom and pop businesses are replaced by larger corporate conglomerations?  Take heart all you people! While the image of the beast might appear frightening, it is only a counterfeit perpetuated by manipulation of smoke and mirrors. The source of all this mayhem and social carnage is a very old crafty spirit who has been described as an angel of light, the lord of the flies or Satan.

So what do we do, you might be asking yourself as your blood pressure rises. Just remember who is ultimately in control. Jesus Christ is in control and the Father has given Him all power and authority. There is a day coming when the man behind the curtain will be chained for a thousand years and then ultimately thrown into hell for eternity.

On the other hand, all of us who have chosen to believe in Jesus Christ will have a much different ending. In the book of Revelation 21:3-5, it states this extremely uplifting promise “God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away”. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold I make all things new.”

Now if that was not enough, God finishes the book of Revelation 22:17 with the greatest of all invitations: “And the Spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say ’Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the waters of life freely.”