Hopeless Wanderers

So many people put their hope in things other than God. I used to pridefully put myself above them, but now the Lord has revealed in my heart a new way to view people wallowing in hopelessness.

Since being saved, the Holy Spirit has given me a new lens through which I now see the world. I can never be the same, and I am eternally grateful for this newfound “foolishness” the Spirit has given me to experience the world with (1 Cor. 1-2). The line from the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” rings in my mind, where the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. I know that the things of this world will not satisfy nor will they last forever. My hope is Christ in my living and dying. This is not an easy undertaking, and if anything has made living in this world more difficult. I am now aware of my inability to cure my subconscious heart search for happiness, but I am given the source of happiness Himself. I am aware that I am a foreigner passing through this land, and the beauty and wonder I experience in this life are mere foretastes of the fullness of joy in God’s presence and pleasures forever at His right hand in heaven (Ps. 16:11). With this new lens through which I view the world, I know to enjoy what God has given me, yet not to fall into idolatry, for the source of all things is God Himself. Because of the lifting of the veil, I can see God for who He has revealed Himself to be, and no longer live in darkness.

Now why do I speak of how I view the world because of the Spirit’s work in my life? It is to show my broken heart for those who cannot see it. It fills me with sadness to see people flounder in their troubles, looking around for anything to cling to and not finding it. It burdens me when I see people turn to anything and everything for sustenance, hope, stability, love, security, peace, and rest. I truly wish everyone could see the beauty of the hope they could possess in the finished work of Jesus on their behalf. For example, earlier this week, one of my coworkers came to me and told me his last day working at the golf course would be this coming Friday (today). The reason? His partner of 3 years had broken up with him, and his world was shattered. What he felt was best for him was to move to another place. In a couple weeks he is moving to Orlando for a fresh start. It made me really sad, his tone of voice and the conversation I had with him displayed the true state of his heart. His hope and identity had been found in her, and the only way he could move on was moving somewhere different and uprooting himself to go to a new place. My heart hurt for him, unfortunately because I’ve done the same thing. I turned to any and everything to numb my pain because I wasn’t satisfied in God. The consequences of putting our hope in something other than God are astronomical, even if no one else can tangibly see them. Our entire lives change when what we hope in is swept away and we are left with nothing. We feel like fools for trusting a fleeting thing too much, but also feel devastated by the shock of not knowing what to do or where to go next. For my employee, it was his relationship with his partner, and because his stable world had been shattered he felt like a change of scenery would solve his problem, as if a new city or lifestyle would solve the Christ sized problem in his heart.

You who are reading this, are you broken over others who are blind to the joy we possess in Jesus? People put their hope in far too many things, and in far too fleeting of things. They cannot see through the smoke and see that this world that they treasure as everything to them is going to fall away. Christians, we hope for a heavenly city, and we know that hoping in the things of this world is not only futile, but sinful. With this in mind, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit would drive us to compassion over these spiritually dead souls. They are crawling towards destruction, and they know not the depth of their choice of rejecting God. How can these hopeless wanderers know unless someone tells them. Christianity is not an ivory tower religion. You and I both know it is a scrape your knees and elbows, hands in the muck, laying down on the wire all the way up the calvary road. We are not deserving of the free gift of grace we’ve been given, so who are we to decide who gets to come? How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching (Rom. 10:14)?

My initial broken heart for the lost in the distractions and sinfulness of society today is more than anything a call to minister. People need to hear this precious gospel, we cannot live our lives like our job is done. If you are truly saved, then you will have a heart for others to know the glorious truth you so cherish. Heed the words of Charles Spurgeon as your encouragement to spread the gospel this week, being bold and obedient to God in your endeavors in evangelizing:

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned or unprayed for.”