God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting

The Promise of a Lifetime

Countdown to God’s Healing: BMH Books will release my fifth book in May. To read a sample section of God’s Healing for Life’s Losses: How to Find Hope When You’re Hurting click here. To pre-order your autographed copy at 30% off, visit here. As we countdown to the release, I’ll be sharing periodic excerpts, such as today’s post: The Promise of a Lifetime.

The Rest of the Story

Jesus promises that one day He will wipe away all pain from every loss. Now that’s the promise you were hoping for! In Revelation 7, Jesus grants the Apostle John a glimpse into the future. The Lamb of God at the center of the universal throne is shepherding God’s people; leading them to springs of living water.

Reaching those healing, life-giving waters, John gives us the promise of a lifetime. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17).

Just in case it seems beyond belief, in Revelation 21, John repeats and expands Jesus’ message of hope. Peering into the new heaven and the new earth, John tells us that God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

We’ve all heard it so many times that the impact dissipates. Let the reality hit home—go back to the future.

God is dwelling with you. God reaches down to wipe every tear from your eyes. God’s booming, loving voice reassures you that death, separation, suffering, and grieving are all a thing of the past. “My child,” He sweetly whispers, “no more mourning, or crying, or pain.”

Every mini-casket death-and-separation experience will be swallowed up in victory. Every major-casket death-and-separation experience will be defeated so that you can say with the Apostle Paul, “Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Reading the End of the Story

Paul concludes his discussion of our future hope by encouraging us to stand firm, to be unmovable, and to be fully committed to worship and ministry (1 Corinthians 15:58). But in the midst of life’s losses, how are we supposed to do that?

When life dashes our dreams and seems to kill our hopes, we must remind ourselves that we’ve read the end of the story. We need to listen like we would to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story.

Many sports fans, if they can’t watch the big game live, tape it. Then they swear all their friends to secrecy. “Don’t you dare spoil it for me! Don’t tell me who won. I want to watch it and enjoy the thrill of the whole game without knowing the end.”

I guess I’m odd. When I can’t watch the big game live, I tape it, but I watch the end first! I’m a major fan of the Chicago Bulls. Back when Michael Jordan was leading them to six NBA titles, I taped one of the championship games between the Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. First, I watched the end. The Bulls won! Then I rewound the tape and watched the entire game. When the Bulls were behind by 17 points, I never panicked. I never threw bricks at the TV.

Normally I would have left the room if they were behind by that much. I would have told my son to call me only if the Bulls tied the game. I couldn’t take watching them struggle. But not this time. I knew the end of the story. So I could handle the ups and downs of the game, knowing the grand result.

Whether or not you agree with my sports-watching philosophy, you can see the benefits we gain from knowing the end of God’s story—the end of our story. We can survive life’s losses and we can even thrive through God’s hope when we remember the end of the story.

We’ve read the end of the story. And we win! God wins! In the end:

Healing triumphs over losses.

Hope triumphs over hurt.

Grace triumphs over works.

Faith triumphs over doubt.

Hope triumphs over despair.

Love triumphs over separation.

Life triumphs over death.

Good triumphs over evil.

God triumphs over the devil.

Join the Conversation

What difference does reading the end of the story make in how you respond to life’s suffering?

A Conversation about Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

Responding to Brian McLaren’s Question # 8: The Future Question

Welcome: You’re reading Part 10 of my blog series responding to Brian McLaren’s book A New Kind of Christianity (read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9). Many have engaged Brian’s thinking by focusing on a systematic theology response (visit here for a boatload of links). My focus is on pastoral theology or practical theology. As a pastor, counselor, and professor who equips the church for biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m asking: “What difference does our response to each question make for how we care like Christ (biblical counseling) and for how we live like Christ (spiritual formation)?”

A New Kind of Eschatology?

I mentioned in Post 9 that I open each chapter of Brian’s book with the hope that Brian might represent with sincerely and without extreme stereotypes those with whom he disagrees. Once again I was disappointed because once again Brian regales his readers with tales from the dark side of eschatology. It’s the same old record, hitting the same old scratch, and playing the same old note again and again.

In Brian’s caricature, typical eschatology views are “pitiful and laughable” (p. 192). Brian’s stereotyped proponents say that since the world is about to end, we don’t care about the environment, we don’t give a rip about global poverty, we’re not concerned about justice for non-Jews, and we refuse to waste energy on peacemaking. Such disingenuous caricatures hardly serve the purpose of inviting conversation or of explaining why a new kind of eschatology is even necessary.

For most Evangelicals, eschatology is much more than the Left Behind series. Eschatology is about our final destiny and what difference our eternal destiny makes in our current lives and ministries. Biblical eschatology has both individual and social/corporate applications. For instance, I teach A Christ-Centered TEAM Approach to Intercultural Ministry. We discuss the point that since for all eternity we will worship, fellowship, and minister together interculturally (Revelation 7:9-10), therefore, we should purposefully, intentionally, and proactively work toward intercultural ministry, multicultural relationships, and multiethnic churches today.

Living in Light of Eternity Future

Brian states that the old kind of eschatology makes us “like gerbils on a wheel” (p. 194). Whatever that old kind of eschatology is, I’m with Brian in rejecting it. When teaching on Life’s Seven Ultimate Questions, which I addressed in Part 3, I discuss how reading the end of the story makes all the difference in how we respond to present suffering and how we overcome besetting sins.

In the end, God “wins.” Good triumphs over evil. Justice triumphs over injustice. Beauty triumphs over chaos. Light triumphs over darkness. Grace triumphs over sin. The biblical answer to the question of ultimate destiny ought to impact drastically how we live today—our future destiny impacts our present reality. That’s no gerbil on a wheel. That’s a biblical counseling perspective that leads to personal and corporate spiritual formation.

Living in Light of Brian’s Eschatology

Brian labels his view “improvisational eschatology” (p. 196). When we ask, “What does the future hold?” Brian says the answer depends. “It depends on you and me” (p. 196). For Brian, this is encouraging. For me, it’s terrifying.

So, do I create my eschatology out of fear? No. I follow a biblical eschatology that leads to sure hope. So, does non-improvisational eschatology leave out any God-human relationship and interworking? Not in the least. We cooperate, submit to, and participate in the sovereign, affectionate work God is doing. We do so joyfully and confidently knowing that God is in control and He cares. This biblical eschatology inspires. It produces anticipation. It offers hope.

As a pastor, counselor, professor, and spiritual friend, I wonder what hope one can offer someone with an “it-depends-eschatology.” I think of my dear mother-in-law who lost her husband of 60 years. It’s a sure-hope-eschatology not an it-depends-eschatology that motivates her day-by-day.

Living in Brian’s Future

Honestly, I’m unclear what Brian’s vision of the future looks like. I’m unsure what eternity or heaven, or the new heaven and the new earth look like. I know it’s not the caricature he paints of those who disagree with him—“a Platonic state of Greco-Roman perfection” (p. 198). It’s more like Randy Alcorn’s Heaven. It’s a new heaven and a new earth—a real place with real purpose, real relationships, and real growth.

Biblical, sure-hope-eschatology motivates and empowers us to live a story worth telling forever. It produces a future vision that leads to a current Christ-centered passion.

Because sure-hope-eschatology believes that choices on earth really matter and have eternal ramifications, it leads to lifestyle evangelism—living and sharing the sure hope of eternal life through faith in Christ alone. It is unlike Brian’s “undoomed future” of universal salvation which diminishes the choices we make today and dulls motivation for living and sharing Christ.

The Rest of the Story

In my next post, I respond to Brian’s answer to the pluralism question. He asks, “How should followers of Jesus relate to people of other religions?”

Join the Conversation

What biblical view of the future gives you purpose today and hope forever?

The Forty-Day Journey of Promise

Day Twenty-One: Thank God I Shall Not Live Here Always!

Note: Welcome to The Journey, our forty-day blog series from MLK Day through the end of Black History Month. We’re learning life lessons from the legacy of African American Christianity. The series is based upon material from my book Beyond the Suffering. To learn more about Beyond the Suffering, including downloading a free chapter, click here.

Future Memory

Pastor Peter Randolph describes how enslaved African Americans consoled each other as they parted at the end of each secret worship service.

“The slave forgets all his suffering, except to remind others of the trials during the past week, exclaiming, ‘Thank God, I shall not live here always!’ Then they pass from one to another, shaking hands, bidding each other farewell, promising, should they meet no more on earth, to strive to meet in heaven, where all is joy, happiness and liberty. As they separate, they sing a parting hymn of praise.”

What an interesting phrase. How can people simultaneously forget their suffering and remind others of their trials?

Actually, it’s quite brilliant. We can’t truly forget the evils we have suffered. Nor should we try. Instead, we should remind ourselves and others of our trials, but we must remember the past while remembering the future. “Thank God, I shall not live here always!”

What perfect “balance.” Don’t deny the past. Do dialogue and trialogue (you, your friend, and God in a three-way spiritual conversation) about the past in light of the future—eternity, heaven.

A Slack Grip; A Taut Grip

Their grip on this world was slack. “Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Here today. Gone tomorrow. Like a vapor. Like a fading flower and withering grass.”

Their grip on the next world was taut. “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Maranatha.”

The result? They are deeply connected with one another—passing from one another, shaking hands, bidding farewell, promising to meet again, some day, somewhere.

They are genuinely content within their own souls—knowing joy, happiness, and liberty, though outwardly experiencing the opposites. They are profoundly communing with Christ—singing a parting hymn of praise, certainly not for their circumstances, definitely in spite of their situations, but preeminently because of who God is.

How amazing it would be to leave every worship and fellowship service like enslaved African American believers did. If they could, given their lot in life, why not us?

Join the Conversation (Post a Comment for a Chance to Receive a Copy of Beyond the Suffering)

1. What might it look like in your life to remember the past (hurts) while remembering the future (hope)?

2. How would our congregations be different if we did this with one another regularly?