OnFire #317 Blessed Hope

OnFire Encouragement Letter

OnFire #317 Blessed Hope

Hi Folks,

This is a big week for us. Yesterday I became a Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces and began my travel to Shilo as a chaplain-in-training. I’m finishing this letter from a motel in Rigaud, a little town outside Montreal. It feels weird that Jan and I will be apart for a while, but we find comfort in the fact that things are moving forward, and eventually this part of the journey will be behind us.  

I found myself repeating a phrase I have often taught through this blog –  “you can’t go and stay at the same time.” We can’t be faithful to God’s call without making changes. They’re not always comfortable, but they are necessary nonetheless. We said this to each other many times in the days, and even minutes, leading up to my departure.

One of the toughest parts for us in this process has been the waiting and the feeling like we are “in-between.” This past month, in particular, I have felt this sense of between-ness, of here and not here – no longer pastoring, but still waiting for next steps to unfold. I have to say, it has been a little uncomfortable, with the between-ness and waiting.

We are not the first people ever to wait - waiting is part of our shared human experience.  There are some things which I have found that make waiting a little easier on everyone involved. I’m not going to claim perfection in all, or any, of these things. But I know that when I practice them, things go better despite the waiting.

Don’t do anything to make it worse –  giving in to sinful behavior makes things worse. Likewise, making half-baked or ill-informed plans for the sake of doing “something” is a panic reaction which often results in additional pain.

Keep my patience – I phrase this intentionally. I could have said, “Don’t lose my patience,” but this hints that it was an accident, or perhaps that someone stole my ability to keep my tongue in check. “Keep“ is intentional – a positive decision not to get snippy with each other.

 Do what we can – During the past several months I have had to fight the urge to “shut down” due to emotional overload – too many decisions, too many unknowns, too many changes. It was hard to do anything productive at times. However, there were things I could still do, like preparing the yard, house and car. Doing these things kept me moving forward.

Remember the promise – I believe God is always good, and that He leads us to His good, for our good. When He asks us to wait, it is not in vain - someday we will be able to look back and say it is worth it all. That’s the promise, and it gives us hope.

These parallel thoughts of waiting and hoping lead me to Paul’s letter to Titus:

 …For the grace of God...  teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,… (Titus 2:11-13)*

There is a lot packed in these few verses. In particular, God gives grace to help us bypass sin and to respond with character and godliness. 

And second, we see ultimate hope. Our blessed hope as Christians is not to live without waiting or stress, but rather to see Jesus once again. We often lose sight of this. Our blessed hope is that one day we will see for ourselves the One who died for us and who will return for us.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of this it makes the waiting for my other things seem a little smaller, less consequential, and easier to bear. That’s our hope – on that day when Jesus appears, we will see it was worth it all.

Those are my latest thoughts on waiting. I hope it helps. Be on fire.

Troy

OnFire is a letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. He is married  to Jan and is a chaplain-in-training in the Canadian Armed Forces. This letter published July 2, 2014. *New International Version, 1984. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com