Can we recover? Hope says, "It's
possible!"
*************************************
He
began with all the right connections. His mother was a prominent woman
in the Jerusalem Church; their spacious home a meeting place for part
of the huge congregation.His cousine was the gentle, respected Barnabas,
donor of real-estate funds to the work of the Church. His future was
bright as a helper to the great apostles Paul & Barnabas in their
travels.
But sometime in the next few weeks, all that changed.
The Scriptures do not tell us why or how.Whatever the cause, John Mark
stuck it out for one more voyage and made the mistake of his life. He
left them half-way and returned (Acts 13: 13).
Was his career forever doomed? Could God do anything with
a quitter? Would the Church ever give him another opportunity?
Fifteen years pass before the answer comes. In his final
note to Timothy, Paul says," get Mark and bring him with you, because
he is helpful to me in my ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). But the greatest
evidence of John Mark's restoration comes from his writing of the second
gospel that bears his name.
If
there is hope for John Mark, there is hope for us today. Few of us have
squandered as much potential as he. His story, tucked into the corners
of the New Testament, is an inspiring example of starting again.
And it is inspiration, the glimmer of hope, of expectation,
that we desperately need in the aftermath of our own stumblings. The
Bible has more to say about hope than we have realized. We have been
caught up with more impressive things. "And now abideth faith,
hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1
Cor.13:13).
If love is the greatest...which is the least? It is hope.
Hope is not strong enough to each out to others,
as love does. Hope can never move mountains-that requires genuine faith.
Hence, we brush hope aside as minor, auxiliary, an extra. We don't have
many sermons about it.We don't write songs in its honor.
What is hope, anyway? It is a quiet voice that
says, "Maybe..." It softly reminds us that there is a faint
possibility of a comeback.
Hope is actually very close to fear. Fear looks
at a set of grim prospects and says, "It might fall." Hope
looks at the same dark, murky point in the ocean. But by morning, they
will be miles apart.
Because hope keeps saying, "Well, it's possible."
Hope just may blossom someday into something impressive like faith.
That is why Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "being sure of what we
hope for." In the beginning we are not sure at all. We know too
well that it is ridiculous to put hope in ourselves. We can only hope
that God is wise enough to make something beautiful out of our messed-up
lives.We can only recognize that it's possible. At some future
point we may be sure that He can and will, and that's faith.But for
now...
People in trouble often say, "I don't want
to get my hopes up." Yes! Get them up! The Scripture promises in
Romans 5:5 that "hope does not disappoint us, because God has
poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has
given us." We have good reason to hope. Romans 8:22-24 even
goes so far as to describe God's intention to redeem us from this world
of groaning and pain and then says: "For in this hope we were saved."
Yes, because hope is another word for confidence, and confidence in
the Saviour's work is all that is required.
Jesus spent most of His ministry reaching out to
people who were sick, mistaken, unsure, a disappointment to themselves,
tired. And He is the same today even to reach out to us-in whatever
situation we might be.
Can we recover our balance after we have fallen?
Can the pieces be put together again? Can we smile again, laugh again,
love again? Can we, like John Mark, ever regain a place of usefulness?
Yes, It's possible. Be encouraged.
**************************letter # 37 ( 30. 9. 2000)*******************
