A conversation that I had recently with one of my best friends began and ended with this question. I was actually greatly relieved to know that she, too, had had these thoughts and wondering about what happens in the end of this life… and what happens if it all amounts to nothing? What if after all my hope and faith in Jesus and in the Bible, that I’m wrong… and there’s nothing there?
When I first began the conversation, I felt silly and almost irreligious for actually saying it aloud. I was truly relieved to know that, while both she and I wholly believe in Jesus and in His leaving heaven, coming here, living a perfect life, and ultimately giving himself up to free us and give us the opportunity for an everlasting life with him; that somewhere in our own human insecurity and desire for finite, physical reasoning and evidence, there is somehow that sliver of doubt, of fear, that when we get to the end, it’ll really be the end.
And I’ll tell you right now, we didn’t make any great theological discoveries or uncover any previously unknown truths, but we did come to the only conclusion that we could - that hope is the only thing that can sustain us here. Hope is what makes me think we do have it right. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness... on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand…”
Hope in Jesus is what allows me to persevere in the darkest nights, in the deepest struggles, in the most devastating circumstances that this life can (and has) throw at me. Hope for what heaven will be like keeps me pressing on towards the goal that He has put in front of me, on the path that He has chosen. Hope is what lets me know that, even though my life is not what I had imagined it to be, what I hoped it would be, God has a plan and a specific purpose that he has given for me to carry out. Hope is knowing that Love has come down to us and that we get to share in it, because of the Cross.
Sometimes, I feel like a small child, always wondering those “What if…?” questions that tend to annoy parents. But in spite of it all, I’m so thankful that Jesus told us to become like children, with a child-like heart and innocent faith, believing in what He has told us is Truth and knowing that He will always be there to lead us, even when we're scared or nervous or hurting...
When continuing that same conversational topic with Kelly just yesterday, she mentioned the quote from "The Silver Chair" by C.S. Lewis, when there has come a point on the characters' journey that some begin to question even the existence of the 'real world' since they have been trapped underground for such a very, very long time. One of the characters (Puddleglum) says:
“Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world that makes you real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Narnia."
In the end, I would choose no other way other than to place all my hope in Jesus. I guess when I look at the pro’s and con’s of the argument, I figure, I would much rather hope in Him than to hope in nothing, and this picture, this promise, this hope that He has given us is far greater than anything I could even possibly want here on the earth.
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