Dear Hope Church Family,
As we put ourselves under the ministry of God’s Word on Sunday, I share with you a brief reflection from Paul Tripp about not losing heart but rather taking courage in the Lord. Enjoy!
What causes a person to lose heart? What makes a person want to give up? Why do we ever entertain fantasies of running away? What causes us to have little enthusiasm for what we once found very motivating?
Your motivation to continue is only as strong as what you have placed your hope in. Perhaps that is why we so easily lose heart in the face of obstacles, opposition, or difficulty. Perhaps what we have unwittingly done is try to build our reason for continuing on the shifting sand of flawed and impermanent things that were never meant to be the foundation of our meaning and purpose or our inner sense of well-being.
No human being is capable of carrying your hope. This side of heaven we are all weak and flawed in some way. No circumstance can carry your hope. Every situation you are in is in some way touched by the brokenness of the fall and isn’t under your control. Amassing physical pleasures and possessions won’t give you lasting hope. For all of their momentary enjoyment, they fill the senses but do not satisfy the heart. When you look horizontally for your reason to continue you will inevitably end up losing hope.
This is precisely why you could hear no better advice than that found in the three words that begin and end the last verse of Psalm 27, ‘Wait for the Lord.” What are you waiting for? . . . We lose heart because we tie our hope to the wrong things. What are you waiting for? To what have you tied your hope? “Be strong in the Lord and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.”
Grace and peace,
David