It might be rare for most of us to stop and think through the ties between our faith and our practice on an average teaching or training day. There’s a lot going on when we teach and it often feels enough to remember to read and pray at all.
Yet when we do pause, there are some incredible riches available to us to see. Moments where God can reveal his word to our hearts and apply it to all aspects of our lives by his Spirit, even teaching.
New years bring new hope, or at least new resolutions, for many. Jesus' resurrection was the ultimate new beginning. What difference does it make to our teaching that we worship Jesus who was dead and is now alive?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
What are your earthly hopes on a normal day? That this difficult class ends soon? That the upcoming holidays are as fun and restful as you’re planning? That you’re able to think through your latest essay or work scheme well and get it all on to paper? That the good things you’re planning for the next few years actually happen? That the bad stuff of life stays away for a bit longer?
Humans are naturally hoping creatures. We have both a concept of the future and an idea of what ‘good’ would look like there. But because so many of our hopes rely on a network of factors going our way, we’re also really good at worrying about what might happen if it all doesn’t work out. This is the quandary of anyone without Jesus. No other faith system or non-faith system is as sure as the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But we Christians do know Jesus, who was raised from the dead in human history, not myth. And we have the Holy Spirit in us, changing us and showing us that we are with God now. For these reasons, we can have certain hope for the future.
Knowing the end of all time is sorted, and that it will be very, very good, changes today. Whatever happens, we can face the uncertainties of essay hand ins and appraisal meetings knowing that God is with us and working for our good. We can trust that he’ll never leave or forsake us, even when we get something horribly wrong. We cannot tarnish the hope we have in Christ.
So, while we might still hope that we can get to drink a full cuppa over breaktime before we have to go again, each day of our lives before heaven is filled with a certainty which brings deep-rooted peace and no need to fear tomorrow.
This is part of a mini-series. Read the next one: 2/4 Bad's Days Are Numbered
