Love Hopes All Things

2020 will go down in History. But I wonder, in 50 years, what will we say about the pandemic? Will it be about how hard it was, how much it affected us for the worst? Or will we be talking about the hope that endured even through the days when all seemed lost?

I would like to think that the year will be noted as one that saw the world rally together, when churches stepped up to fill the gaps in the system – food banks, school lunches, and outdoor worship services. A year when we figured it out and found a way. This was only possible because we had hope. Hope that soon, things would be better. Hope that even when people were grieving and lonely, we could still reach them with the love of God because His hope endures all things. Even when all seems lost, God’s light can still break through:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

Hope is difficult to define as it is only concerned with the future. And now that we are in 2022, we are in that future. So, what can we take from the last two years and bring forward? That we can do it — whatever the “it” is. Maybe it is stepping into a new area of ministry that you have been thinking about for a while. Maybe it is seeking forgiveness or being the one that forgives. Or perhaps it is simply growing in faith and believing that this year will be one filled with hope.

First Corinthians 13 is the chapter often referred to when we talk about the love that we should strive for in a marriage. It is the instruction manual for how we as Christians should love one another. But what if we were to look at it and remind ourselves that the ultimate “love” is Jesus? That this passage also talks to us about how God loves the world and all who are in it.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7)

When we read 1 Corinthians 13:7, we get a fresh grasp on how Jesus may have interacted with the season we have been in. If we stop and think that God is the best example of love and even in the darkest of times, God bears all things, God believes all things, God hopes all things, and endures all things. So, must we not then bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things?

Now, I am not saying that we cannot be in despair and pain — Jesus too experienced these emotions. But what I am hoping we get from 2020 is the understanding that in this current year, even though we are still unsure of what is to come, with Jesus we can hope ALL things.  We can hope for a breakthrough. We can hope that the church will continue to be a beacon of light. Through Jesus and with Jesus we can do anything.

So, in 2022, Let us be standing in audacious prayer for all things. Even for the things that in this moment feel completely impossible — because through God all things are possible (Mark 10:27).