There is a little town in Maine that is under Flagstaff Lake. Few visitors to this lake realized that. They enjoyed the delectable lobsters and walked along the idyllic shores of the lake but seldom were they told of the submerged Flagstaff Town.
It was in 1949 that the residents got the confirmed news that their town was to be flooded and submerged because of the construction of a hydroelectric dam. Imagine that you were one of the residents of this little town. You were told to vacate the place at a given deadline. Though you would be compensated, the town that you grew up in would forever be submerged under fifty feet of water and probably in time, lost to memory.
Months before the flooding arrived, every repair work and renovation stopped in Flagstaff. That was common sense – why should anyone spend money and effort on refurbishing buildings that would be submerged underwater soon? All roads were left with gaping potholes. Every building came under disrepair and the town was ugly to sight. Families started moving out and soon Flagstaff became a “ghost” town.
In response to this despondency, Dr. Halford Luccock, Professor of homiletics at Yale University, commented, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”
This is so true. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no vision, the people perish….” When you cannot have hope in the future, the present can be paralyzing.
I pray that in this new year, you will discover that the kingdom of God is full of hope. Paul the Apostle, the great proponent of hope, wrote in Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
A bride who is walking down the aisle beams with the hope of a great future with her groom. A mother holding her newborn is filled with joy and hope for her child. A young graduate jumps with hope because she has great potential for her future career. Even prisoners who have hope of being with their loved ones after serving their sentences, behave and survive better in prison. This hope for the future is so important that you cannot take it lightly.
So, as a child of God, you should have great hope because you know that your future is in the hand of the infinite and brilliant Creator. How did Paul the Apostle thrive even while in a cold Roman prison cell? He had hope because he knew the Lord of hope personally.
There are two things that can really enhance your hope.
The first is good relationships. Begin by establishing a good relationship with the Lord. This is vital because it will affect all your other relationships. When you have peace with God, you will have peace with others. If you struggled with having good relationships with others, then instead of blaming others, check your relationship with God.
All long-term relationships are established by having many dosages of forgiveness and Agape love. Where do you get an abundant supply of these? You get them from the Lord. The closer you are to the Lord the more loving and forgiving you would become. And these are obviously recipes for good relationships.
The second is good achievements. Whatever the Lord has assigned you, excel in it. Whatever job you are doing, give your best effort. Nobody can succeed for you and nobody can fail for you. In your business or job, always seek to go the second mile for your customers or employer.
During the time of Jesus, a Roman soldier was allowed to force anyone to carry his backpack for one mile. After that, he needed to find another person to do the task. The original person who carried the backpack was no longer obligated to assist the soldier anymore. You can imagine the Jewish victim who was forced to do the task. He must have resented the soldier.
When it came to Jesus, it was different. Instead of teaching His disciples to fight for their rights, and to resist the cohesion to serve the enemy, Jesus told them to willingly follow Roman law. Then He added a shocking instruction, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” (Matthew 5:41).
One can imagine how shocked the Roman soldier would be when the victim offered to carry his backpack for another mile. What Jesus taught was that His disciples were to live beyond the requirement of Roman law. The second mile was not required by the law and so it was known as the “Freedom Mile”. The victim suddenly had the freedom and power to bless his oppressor. The Roman soldier would most probably be confused and think that the victim had become crazy. As for the disciples of Christ, they knew their identity as children of the kingdom of God. The second-mile principle is part of their lifestyle.
If you would do that in your service to others, it will not only be pleasing to the Lord but it will give you good results. No customer is going to leave you and no good employer is going to fire you when you are applying this kingdom principle.
Finally, unlike the people of Flagstaff, you can be assured that even when this old world passes away, the Lord is going to create a new earth… plus a new heaven (Revelation 21). You as a faithful child of God will inherit all these in your future.
Apostle Peter reminded us of this great promise of God. It is through Christ, we have been reborn into “…a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).
Your life will be greatly enriched when you realize that by establishing good relationships and having good achievements, you are actually fulfilling the will of God in your life here and now. Then with the eternal hope of God’s promise of a new heaven and a new earth, you will be able to keep the proper perspective of what your life is all about.
May this new year be a year in which you have “hope in the future and power in the present”.
God bless
Albert Kang
Albert Connect 