A short dialogue between a pastor and a parishioner.
CHRISTIAN: “I have lots of anxiety! I struggle with worry and remembering that the Lord is in control! I forget that He carries all our burdens and cares! At times I get depressed over my life! I get discouraged because of sin, my weaknesses, my indifference! I simply struggle in my life! Can you help me?”
PASTOR: “Anxiety, depression, and discouragement are sad realities in this fallen world. These maladies affect believers and unbelievers alike. Jesus said to His disciples, “In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is hope. As believers, we have hope in the Lord. “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You” (Psalm 39:7). We have hope in salvation. “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8). We have hope in forgiveness. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). We have hope in Christ’s righteousness. “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Gal. 3:6). We have hope in the future (Matthew 25:23). We have hope in the resurrection (John 11:25). We have hope in the coming Kingdom (1 Thess. 4:16). We have hope in the cleansing and pardon of Christ’s blood (Eph. 1:7). We have hope in our peace with God obtained by Christ (Rom. 5). We have hope as we experience the peace of God through prayer (Phil. 4:6-7). We have hope in affliction that the Lord will work all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28). We have hope in the continual transforming work of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). We need to pray that the Lord will strengthen us to lay all our burdens at the foot of the cross and trust His inscrutable Providence, which is also a biblical hope. And we need to remember that our hope in the Lord is “an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:19-20). And we need to meditate on the truth that “the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10).
CHRISTIAN: “But my life is so hard! I sometimes seem to lose hope! I get easily discouraged over my sinfulness and repeated repentance. I get tired of struggling against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And I get troubled over all the difficult things that keep coming into my life. I do trust Jesus Christ. I do believe His Word. I faithfully bring my prayers to the Lord. I know His atoning work is my only hope of salvation. But, Pastor, life is so hard! Sometimes I feel like giving up!”
PASTOR: “Yes, life is hard, but God is always good. God is good all the time! We have hope in the Lord! Trust Him for He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. Remember that we are pilgrims and strangers in this sin-cursed world (Heb. 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). We are just passing through. The New Heavens and the New Earth are the true home for all believers. Remember Romans 8, “No condemnation” (8:1) and “No separation” (8:38-39)! As Asaph declared, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 43:5). “Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8). Remember that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1:1 that Jesus Christ is “our hope.” And the writer to the Hebrews tells us that our confidence in our “immutable God is a sure and steadfast anchor of our soul” that keeps us from drifting away from God and grants us ensuring hope. I know at times that all believers “feel prone to wander”, but the Holy Spirit will keep us in Christ’s sheepfold. As Jude tells us, we are “preserved in Jesus Christ” (Jude vs. 1). And the Apostle Peter encourages the people of God with these words, “who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). Simply stated, as believers, we abound with hope in Christ! We are never hopeless, and we must fight against those sinful feelings with the truth of Scripture. Christ is the sure and steadfast anchor of our soul! Look upon Him and life’s difficulties will begin to lose their grip on your soul. Weariness and discouragement come from losing sight of Christ and the big picture of God’s redeeming plan. The writer to the Hebrews encouraged the persecuted Hebrew Christians with these words, “For consider Him [Christ] who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (Heb. 12:3). Trust the strength of Jesus, not your strength! In and of ourselves, the Christian life would be impossible. We are too sinful and too weak as we are only partially sanctified in this life! But we are not living the Christian life in our own strength but by the strength the Holy Spirit supplies. He dwells within us and will continue to support us and give us strength to keep running the Christian race. He will keep us looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith! Cry out to the Lord of glory! He always attends to the cry of His sheep!”
CHRISTIAN: “Thank you, Pastor! The encouragement from God’s Word has been a great help to my soul. Please keep me in your prayers. By the strength the Holy Spirit supplies and the promises of His Word, I am assured that I will persevere in the Faith and not give up! I see that my only hope is the Lord and He communicates that to me through the Scriptures! Thank you, Pastor, for bringing me back to God’s Word so that I can see clearly through the fog of this world by focusing on Jesus. I appreciate your Biblical counsel, encouragement, and prayers.”
PASTOR: “Praise the Lord for His abounding mercies toward the sheep of His pasture. I will continue to keep you before the Lord in prayer. You “keep looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). The ground of our assurance is the person and work of Christ and the means of our assurance is the Word of God. So, stay in the Word daily. Make time everyday to search the Scriptures since the Word of God is the means the Holy Spirit uses to conform us into Christ’s image (2 Cor. 3:18). As the Apostle Paul wrote, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor S. Henry
