Hope. I talk so much about it, but I’m afraid that at times I get it confused with postponement. Maybe we all do. It seems like the Jews did in the New Testament. They hoped for the Messiah. They talked about the Messiah coming over and over again. They believed that things would be good when Messiah came. And then Messiah came. But it seemed like it was easier to believe that Messiah was coming than He was here.
I often do that too. I think that someday it will get better. I have hope. Hope is what I will have in the future. But hope isn’t something that should be exclusively projected to the future. I don’t postpone happiness until a certain event happens or things change from the way they are now. Messiah has come. Hope is here. I have now realized the goodness of God and can face my future with Him.
I wear orange because it is the color of hope. I often tell orphans that I wear it because I expect there to be a cure for AIDS in the future. But perhaps I have postponed goodness to the future when in reality Messiah has come. There is hope now whether there is a cure for AIDS or not. No matter what the situation we face, even if it is negative, we have a Messiah. He is here. He provides help now.
But it is still hard to believe that Messiah has come. It is easier to think it will be better in the future rather than to acknowledge that it is good now. When I go to our clinic in Kisumu, Kenya, I often teach a class to a bunch of women who have full blown AIDS. I always end my class with the statement— “There is no cure for AIDS, but there is a cure for death.” Why? Messiah has come. We don’t have to postpone our joy. We don’t have to postpone goodness to the future. The future has already been inaugurated. The coming one is here now. The coming kingdom is present. Salvation is not only a future hope– it is also a present experience.
The women in the class wanted their picture made with me. I thought that they wouldn’t want their picture taken because of their dilemma. And when they had the photograph made, I hardly expected them to smile. But look at their faces! I think they had hope written all across their faces. They believed that they had a future. And they believed that they had someone to help them now with their problems on the way to their future.
