I remember this popular song in my early years by Elvis Presley “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” I am sure you will be able to relate to me about the message of hope that this song conveys, that “at the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of the lark...walk on with hope in your heart...and you’ll never walk alone.”
No matter how, when and where we are born and the corresponding circumstances of our birth, regardless if we are born poor or rich, white or brown and even what faith our parents have passed on to us, we will for sure encounter difficulties in life. It is as if, we are born and have been pre-destined to experience pain. Unfortunately for majority of people living in this world, almost their whole life is lived in pain and difficulties.
Are there reasons to hope that darkness will come to pass and we will finally see the light? That every Saturday we wake up with anticipation that we finally won the jackpot in Lotto Max and we don’t have to come to work the following Monday! That we have finally won our battle with the big “C” and we don’t have to go back for chemotherapy and experience one hour of “hell.” Only to find out that when we wake up the following day, nothing of our circumstance has changed. We feel alone and hope is gone and so with our reasons to live.
How can we keep faith when nothing seems to be going right? Where can we find motivation and optimism when we are feeling defeated and rejected? Worst is, we will discover that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Then we conclude that life sucks and is not fair!
I have dreamed of driving a BMW too, of living in a big and beautiful house, of being restored to my profession and enjoy the respect and admiration of people working for me, of having the body that I had 20 years ago and the list goes on. I believe I deserve those more than anybody else I know. But the more that I think of them, the more I have come to realize that there is a great chance not one of them will happen.
But always, I will wake up and snap from these dreams, that though they may not happen in this lifetime, it will happen in the next. Yes, the hope in my heart that one day I will come home and enjoy all these and much more than these that my Father in heaven has prepared for me.
You see, if we look at the things that are finite, we will for sure be disappointed. We have forgotten that we are made for heaven. That God intends to have us all in heaven but He is so perfect and holy that there is no chance that with our present state of life, we would make it to heaven. Say you are filthy and full of dirt, are you going to put on your immaculate white shirt? Of course not, we are going to wash first and make sure there is no single trace of dirt left in our body before we try and put on that shirt. Every pain, difficulties, rejection and defeat we experience in our life are like scrubs, they scrub the dirt on our body. The more we scrub, the more and faster we become clean.
If we think this way, then we will realize that not winning the lotto is not bad at all. That every time you undergo chemotherapy is not bad at all because one hour of chemo is equivalent to a thousand years in purgatory. That every pain and difficulty is God’s loving way of bringing us closer and nearer to Him.
Our Lord Jesus has exemplified all of these on the cross and He will not ask us something that He himself has not done. Remember His pain and suffering and you will realize that it is true – you don’t walk alone and will never be.
No matter how, when and where we are born and the corresponding circumstances of our birth, regardless if we are born poor or rich, white or brown and even what faith our parents have passed on to us, we will for sure encounter difficulties in life. It is as if, we are born and have been pre-destined to experience pain. Unfortunately for majority of people living in this world, almost their whole life is lived in pain and difficulties.
Are there reasons to hope that darkness will come to pass and we will finally see the light? That every Saturday we wake up with anticipation that we finally won the jackpot in Lotto Max and we don’t have to come to work the following Monday! That we have finally won our battle with the big “C” and we don’t have to go back for chemotherapy and experience one hour of “hell.” Only to find out that when we wake up the following day, nothing of our circumstance has changed. We feel alone and hope is gone and so with our reasons to live.
How can we keep faith when nothing seems to be going right? Where can we find motivation and optimism when we are feeling defeated and rejected? Worst is, we will discover that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Then we conclude that life sucks and is not fair!
I have dreamed of driving a BMW too, of living in a big and beautiful house, of being restored to my profession and enjoy the respect and admiration of people working for me, of having the body that I had 20 years ago and the list goes on. I believe I deserve those more than anybody else I know. But the more that I think of them, the more I have come to realize that there is a great chance not one of them will happen.
But always, I will wake up and snap from these dreams, that though they may not happen in this lifetime, it will happen in the next. Yes, the hope in my heart that one day I will come home and enjoy all these and much more than these that my Father in heaven has prepared for me.
You see, if we look at the things that are finite, we will for sure be disappointed. We have forgotten that we are made for heaven. That God intends to have us all in heaven but He is so perfect and holy that there is no chance that with our present state of life, we would make it to heaven. Say you are filthy and full of dirt, are you going to put on your immaculate white shirt? Of course not, we are going to wash first and make sure there is no single trace of dirt left in our body before we try and put on that shirt. Every pain, difficulties, rejection and defeat we experience in our life are like scrubs, they scrub the dirt on our body. The more we scrub, the more and faster we become clean.
If we think this way, then we will realize that not winning the lotto is not bad at all. That every time you undergo chemotherapy is not bad at all because one hour of chemo is equivalent to a thousand years in purgatory. That every pain and difficulty is God’s loving way of bringing us closer and nearer to Him.
Our Lord Jesus has exemplified all of these on the cross and He will not ask us something that He himself has not done. Remember His pain and suffering and you will realize that it is true – you don’t walk alone and will never be.
this is a re-post from my column Alive in Christ some 2 years ago. intended for those who don't feel the joy and the love this Christmas season. I hope you realize that God is with you.
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