By Reta Selitto, MA, Ed.S., LPC
Pronouns: She/Her

As I contemplate what it means to be in the mess left behind…I keep coming back to the word hope. What does it mean to hope today? For the last two years, our hopes have ridden a roller coaster of fear and despair. Fear of a virus running rampant. We lived in fear for our lives. Anxiety ebbing and flowing through our veins. We did not know what our outcome would be if we contracted the virus. Would we live, would we die, would we be hospitalized? We may know the very real grief and fear that comes from losing someone to Covid. How do we hope when our hope for another day with our loved ones is snatched from us? Is their hope after grief or in spite of grief? As our hope waivered over a terrifying virus despair over society and faith swooped in like a vulture tearing at the remaining threads. Despair over a society that feels like it is crumbling with strife and inequality. Despair over those in the church who have abused others and left behind their first love who is Christ. Despair that following Christ in parts of the American church seems to be synonymous with something that looks like nothing like the Jesus we read about in the gospels. Our society and parts of the church are driven by discord, strife, despair, and fear. All of this can grab our attention and run away with our hearts and minds. Leaving in its wake dread.

Today I want to tell you that I think one of the biggest threats to our faith is not the reality we see right in front of us but the lack of hope residing within us. We know as believers Satan’s tactic is to kill steal and destroy. Could it be that perhaps the greatest way he can do that today is to distract and steal and kill our hope? If we lose hope we also lose sight of God’s promises and faithfulness. We know that God will restore justice…as it states in Isaiah 42:4 (NIV) “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” 

God is just and He is faithful. It might seem like everything is upside down and in some very real ways, it is. However, ultimately it will be made right. God will restore justice to the earth. We must hold onto that truth. Also, despite everything we are seeing we can get up every day and pursue the good that God called us to do knowing He is still at work. We may not be able to address the big picture but we can affect our immediate sphere of influence. If Christ can touch one person through you that counts for something. If we can give one person some grace that matters. If one person may rethink God’s love despite what they may have been told by others because of you that is an amazing gift. Do not discount the ripples you make in a raging sea. I think this is what the apostle Paul talks about when he says “Let us not grow weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9”

One of our biggest temptations is to let the pain of others (who claim to love Christ) become a thorn that may undermine your faith. It is only natural to pull away from a fire that burns. It is only natural to pull away from a relationship that hurts like hell. How are we not to ascribe that to God?

May I gently remind you that they do not reflect Jesus in those moments even when they claim to. Paul tells us what love looks like in first Corinthians 13. It is selfless and sacrificial. Jesus says love looks like loving your neighbor as yourself. If someone who claims to be a Christian did not love you like this then they were not walking according to the ways of God. Can you give some space to the possibility that God is different from their representation even in the midst of the pain? Can you have an inkling of hope for restoration with God?

Hope can feel fragile. And if it does that is okay. Let it flicker dimly and hold onto the possibility that God can restore the years that the locusts have eaten. Just because it feels dim right now does not mean it can’t be restored. Hold onto the possibility of hope. If you feel like it is under attack it probably is. Call upon those that you know love you and love God and let them be your hope bearer in a tough season. You are not alone.