Christianity's Defining Word: Hope
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly; righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us. Titus 2:11-14, NKJV.
It seems like just yesterday, but it was really more than 50 years ago. In my younger years I had a friend whom we referred to as D. G. I never did know what the initials stood for, but that is what we all called him. He was a regular sort of kid and a good friend to hang around.
Somehow we lost track of each other. Then when I was 16 or so I had occasion to stop by his house. What I saw shocked me. Beer cans littered the yard. More beer cans had been thrown carelessly throughout the house. There were beer cans everywhere! I had seen plenty of beer cans in my short life, but nothing like that.
As a result, I asked the natural question--What's going on here? Then I heard the shocking news. Sixteen-year-old D. G. had died of leukemia a few days before, and, not knowing what else to do, his parents had thrown an all-out beer party for him and his friends for his last weekend of life.
I was doubly dumbfounded. First, because of the untimely death of a boy who had been my friend. And, second, because hosting a beer party was the only thing that his apparently adult parents could come up with as a send-off.
At that time I had no problem with beer parties. But even my agnostic, hedonistic mind had a difficult time grasping the poverty of his death. It forced me to face some important questions. Was escape from reality through alcohol the best thing this family could think of in the face of death? Do not life and death deserve some dignity? Is there any meaning to life after all, or was I, as a wandering teenager, to continue to live my own life alternating between study and work and meaningless stupor? In short, is there any hope in life?
It would be three more years before I discovered the answer. And since that time what Paul calls the "blessed hope," the hope that surpasses all others, has guided my life.
In many ways the words "having hope" signify more than any others what it means to be a Christian. We may face crises and death in this life but we know that this life is not all there is. We have the "blessed hope" of a new life when Jesus returns in the clouds of heaven.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly; righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us. Titus 2:11-14, NKJV.
It seems like just yesterday, but it was really more than 50 years ago. In my younger years I had a friend whom we referred to as D. G. I never did know what the initials stood for, but that is what we all called him. He was a regular sort of kid and a good friend to hang around.
Somehow we lost track of each other. Then when I was 16 or so I had occasion to stop by his house. What I saw shocked me. Beer cans littered the yard. More beer cans had been thrown carelessly throughout the house. There were beer cans everywhere! I had seen plenty of beer cans in my short life, but nothing like that.
As a result, I asked the natural question--What's going on here? Then I heard the shocking news. Sixteen-year-old D. G. had died of leukemia a few days before, and, not knowing what else to do, his parents had thrown an all-out beer party for him and his friends for his last weekend of life.
I was doubly dumbfounded. First, because of the untimely death of a boy who had been my friend. And, second, because hosting a beer party was the only thing that his apparently adult parents could come up with as a send-off.
At that time I had no problem with beer parties. But even my agnostic, hedonistic mind had a difficult time grasping the poverty of his death. It forced me to face some important questions. Was escape from reality through alcohol the best thing this family could think of in the face of death? Do not life and death deserve some dignity? Is there any meaning to life after all, or was I, as a wandering teenager, to continue to live my own life alternating between study and work and meaningless stupor? In short, is there any hope in life?
It would be three more years before I discovered the answer. And since that time what Paul calls the "blessed hope," the hope that surpasses all others, has guided my life.
In many ways the words "having hope" signify more than any others what it means to be a Christian. We may face crises and death in this life but we know that this life is not all there is. We have the "blessed hope" of a new life when Jesus returns in the clouds of heaven.
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