Every day, my newsfeed is filled with a relentless run of articles about the unsustainable housing crisis, crypto-bubbles, impending stock market crashes, rampant inflation, cost of living, increased conflict and the looming climate disaster.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of good news at all to encourage us and to put our hope in.
I’m aware that I, like most of you who are reading this, have lived in an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity.
I haven’t experienced much by way of hardship and uncertainty, unlike my grandparents’ generation, which weathered two world wars and the Great Depression.
I realise that I have come to expect things to progress, to improve, to get better and stronger. If I buy a house, I expect it to increase in value.
If I get a job, I expect to be paid enough to cover my expenses with a bit left over for a rainy day. I expect good conditions at work, and to be treated fairly.
I expect the people I deal with from day to day to treat me honestly.
I expect top quality, yet affordable health care and government services that meet my needs.
I expect to be able to retire one day with a roof over my head and to be able to live comfortably.
I can’t help but wonder if the time of peace and prosperity that we’ve taken for granted is going to last for much longer.
Is the ‘Australian dream’ that I’ve just described likely to be a dependable reality in the future? Time will tell, I suppose.
As a Christian, though, I shouldn’t be surprised by any of this. Jesus makes it clear that there is nothing certain in this life.
The world we live in is deeply troubled. Natural disasters are a reality. War, unrest, rebellion and insurrection are realities.
Disease is a reality. Death is a reality.
The peace and prosperity we have enjoyed is something we should be thankful for, but it’s not something that we should expect to last for ever.
And yet there are still reasons to have hope.
First, God is a god of order not chaos. He is an expert at taking things that humans mess up and bringing good through them.
Second, God specialises in death and resurrection.
As far as God is concerned, hard times do not need to spell doom and gloom, but lead to new beginnings.
Finally, God takes a long view of history.
Our own view is limited; we can see our immediate surroundings, but little more.
God gives us the promise from his eternal perspective of a time when Christ will return and will make all things new again.
We can look forward to a time when there ‘… will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…’ (Revelation 21:4).
So don’t despair when you read the news. God is working things out.
There’s a reason to have hope.
Pr Matthias Prenzler,
Trinity Lutheran Church, Echuca
16°C