The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
When I fell and broke my right wrist three and a half years ago, I asked my left-handed daughter if we could trade “handedness” for a while. She doesn’t think it works that way.
When things like broken bones happen, most people bemoan the issue and complain about the crimp the temporary disability puts on their lifestyle. Yes, we are distracted by the pain. But for the Christian living in the culture of hope that is founded on faith, such an event should be viewed as an opportunity to advance the Kingdom of God. Here is what it might sound like: “I need to go to the Emergency Room. I wonder what divine appointment God has waiting for us there.” By “us” I meant my husband and me.
When I was admitted to the Emergency Room there was an elderly lady in the bed next to me. With only a thin curtain between us, we had no choice but to listen as the doctor gave her daughter the bad news. The diagnosis was Leukemia. While a physician’s assistant talked to me, Dan walked over to the daughter and asked if he could pray with them. They eagerly agreed. After his prayer we were able to encourage the daughter, a Christian, and before we left, we assured her that we will continue to pray for her and her mother. They were our “divine appointment”. We were in the ER on Kingdom business, to minister to them at the direction of the King of Kings.
The Lord’s Prayer includes the phrases “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Ministering to whomever God puts in our path is part of both advancing the Kingdom of God and doing His will. In these two phrases we are actually praying for ourselves, asking for direction, strength, and protection to accomplish what God has clearly called each of us to do – tell the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ to all (Acts 1:8). While the people we directly interacted with in the ER are Christians, the doctors and nurses around us who may not be, saw the love of Jesus in action through us. God’s will was done. 1 John 4:11-12 says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
The Kingdom of God is comprised of those who know Him through belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ to salvation. The prayer for the coming of God‘s Kingdom and for His will to be done are for both future and present. For the future we pray for the perfect Kingdom of God on earth, reigned over by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Consistent with that perfect government, we also pray for a future in which God’s will is the standard by which all humans live.
For the present we ask for the furtherance of the gospel, the foundation of the Kingdom, and for God’s will to be carried out in our individual lives. As representatives of God’s Kingdom, our temperament, decisions, personal possessions, and relationships must also represent the will of God. Whether it is in the local ER, in the hospital where Dan had his chemotherapy in 2006, or in the infusion room at Cancer Care Specialists, “We could have chosen to act like unbelievers, with despair and hopelessness. But that would be contrary to God’s Word and God would, therefore, not be glorified. The gospel could never be shared in such a case because there would be no reason to listen to someone with no hope” (excerpt from The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith, Westbow Press, 2017, pp. 132-133).
As Children of God, our lives are always about Kingdom business, no matter what else is going on around us.
