Hoping and Wishing
When I was a kid I was in the shed my grandpa had in his backyard. He was teaching me how to sharpen a mower blade. I used to learn some very valuable lessons from him for the short years I got to spend with him. He passed away when I was around 12 years old. He always had some great words. One day when I talked about it smelling like cow crap, he looked at me and said “That’s not crap, that’s money you smell.”
One day I told him what I hoped to buy when I got a little older. He looked at me and told me a story I will change the words of because my mother reads these sometimes. He looked at me that day and told me to hold out my hands. He said “You can hope in one and crap in the other. Which one you think will fill up first?” Being young I asked him why I would ever crap in my own hand. He laughed and told me it was good to have goals and hope, but if I did not get out there and work all I would have is hope. It may seem a little extreme to tell a kid, but I have never forgotten his wisdom.
I have often heard preachers talk about hope. I believe the Bible is a book of hope. That God is a God of hope. I believe that one of the things we can offer today as Christians is hope. Hope that this is not all there is and that there is a God who loves us. Sometimes churches take the concept of hope and tell believers that is all they need. I tend to agree with my grandpa, even with my faith.
I have my hope solidly in my God and his love and grace for me. If it were not for God’s grace I would not have any basis to hope. His love keeps my hope grounded is something that is unshakeable or breakable. I do not hope I can do good enough to deserve his grace or that I can be loved any more than I am right now. I simply hope in His words of grace and love for my eternal life. I will rest my hope in a God who could not love me any more or less than he already does.
But, I’m not content to sit back and wait for the day my hope will be rewarded. Instead I believe I will look at the other hand and do my best to make sure it fills up with God’s work. I think James said it best in James 2: My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. If you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. In the same way, faith that is alone—that does nothing—is dead.
Someone might say, “You have faith, but I have deeds.“ Show me your faith without doing anything, and I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2:14-18 (NCV)
You see I don’t do good works to add to my hope of God’s approval. I believe we do good works to show that our hope has changed our lives. It is the best way we share our hope. Not just in words, but in the witness of our actions and especially in the way we treat others. If you just have a hand full of hope and don’t change your world with your actions then you might be surprised at what people see in your other hand. That is why you can’t just concentrate on hope, but the works that hope produces.
I truly believe that when we do good works we give hope to others. Sometimes people will ask why we do good works. I’ve been stopped several times and asked that very question. Why would I do something good for someone else? I always refer to the other hand. Hope. That is why I do something good for others. I do good things so that I can tell them about my hope in a God who leads me to do good for others. It shows that my faith and hope in God push and sometimes require that I do good things for other people. Jesus even challenges us to go further and do good things for our enemies. Boy, this whole faith and hope thing is more involved than just sitting back and waiting for heaven. It is to bring a little heaven to earth through our actions with others.
Check your hands. What are holding? You just can’t keep hoping something good will happen. Make it happen. Let your hope drive your good works. When we do good things for others we are joining God in his work here on earth. Who knows? We might even give someone a reason to find the hope that our God has blessed us with.