Whether you live in Manila, Miami, or Mumbai, stand-still traffic is a uniformly despised pain.
When you’re stuck in traffic, you’re on a journey all right, but you feel like you’re getting nowhere. The full stops of life are even more disheartening. As you were navigating along, perhaps you lost a job, watched the dream of a life-long relationship disintegrate, or failed yourself, God, and others in various ways. Your circumstances give you no reason for hope…for change.
But there is reason to hope. The Bible talks about a “confident hope” that’s larger than your broken life situation. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” (John 11:25) meaning that, He brings back to life those who purpose to follow Him. Jesus is always at work in the lives of His followers and so, the Christian view is always one of hope.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:13
One writer explains, “…this position of hope affirms the Christian belief that God is working to redeem fallen humanity so that we need not despair and reconcile ourselves to our present, lesser condition. Rather, we can make progress, believing that the Spirit is at work within us to reform us into the creatures we were intended to be.”[1]
Living with hope in Jesus is living in the state of being “on the way” because scripture says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). As you live by the guidelines that God has set out for you in scripture, even in the full-stops of life, you are on your way.
[1] Aijian, J. L. (2017). Acedia and student life: Ancient Christian wisdom for addressing boredom, distraction, and over-commitment in undergraduates. International Journal of Christianity & Education, 21(3), 186-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056997117725343
