What Have You Put Your Hope In?
The next thing I am going to say will make you sincerely judge me.
I am a Toronto Maple Leaf fan.
I still remember my first ever Leaf game with my great-uncle. We had tickets to sit at the top of the Air Canada Centre. However, a few minutes into the game, the announcer jumped on the P.A. system and announced “the move of the game.” He then proceeded to call out the winning seat numbers. Of course, they called out our seats, so we had the opportunity to move to the very first row. Not a bad first game?
I have followed the Leafs ever since, and there have been years we had a lot of hope. I feel “Leaf Nation” seems to attain hope very easily when they see anything positive. Whether it’s when we make a big trade at the deadline that would boost our team to Stanley Cup contention, or up by 3 goals in game 7, or ending up in first place in our division like we did this year.
On the contrary, I also feel Leaf fans have lost hope just as quickly. Whether it’s having a bad game, having an injury, or simply losing again in the first round. They understand disappointment maybe more than any sports franchise. At least they would like everyone to think so… No wonder why no one likes Leaf fans.
What have you put your hope in?
That you will get married one day?
That your business will take off?
That you will get a raise?
That you will get accepted into university?
That a loved one would get healed?
When we have hope that a result will turn out a certain way, it changes our entire outlook on life. Hope gives us the lens to be optimistic over and over again. We bring those hopes to God and trust he’s not going to let us down, and we select certain scriptures that seem to confirm how God will work in these moments.
However, what if God doesn’t work in those moments? Or what if God does work, but the results still don’t look the way we had hoped?
I think every one of us has those moments where we become extremely disappointed as every ounce of hope we had gets sucked out of us.
Maybe today, you are lacking hope because the results didn’t look the way you wanted. I wonder if it’s still possible to have hope in God, despite not completely understanding God?
In those moments, we need to go back and focus on what Jesus did for all of us on the cross. I have shared over and over on stage, “If Jesus dying for our sins is the only thing God ever does for us, we should still be thanking him every day we are alive.”
So if you are in a season of disappointment, know we can always put our hope in Christ, the good news, and his salvation, because that hope will never disappoint.
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