Peeking in the Package

For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:24-25 GNB)

I thought I would find it in the closet. I looked under the bed. When I got a little bigger, I even checked the attic. To this day, I’m not sure where my parents found to hide the packages and presents for birthdays and Christmas. I do remember the Christmas I peeked in one of the packages though. Funny thing was, my sister did the same thing. I didn’t find out about it until our parents informed us THEY KNEW we had gone peeking in the package.

Do you know what I discovered that Christmas? That Christmas was a little less special. Not because of the threatened punishment from my parents. Not so much the breaking of family trust. What I discovered was I had lost the hope – I’d seen what was in the package. Not all of them but just one – and that was enough – the hope of Christmas was gone that year. It wasn’t enough to just see and know I had presents – I just wanted to go one step further.

This time of year we start looking forward. As a country we’re doing it too. With this being an election year, the polling data reflects a lack of hope. Interestingly, the one candidate who has tried to run on a platform of hope, Barack Obama, was described in a derogative way as a “hope monger.”

What is real, genuine hope? In the Bible, hope is connected to faith and love. No verse does a better job of pointing to that than 1 Corinthians 13:13 NASB: that says: "faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."

It is natural for children to trust their parents, even though parents sometimes fail to keep their promises. God, the Father, however, never makes promises he won’t keep. Our salvation, our connection to God, Paul says, is grounded in hope. Can you feel it? No. Touch it? No. Taste it? No. But it is there. It is like the present – you can see it is there but you can’t peek inside. Why? It isn’t hope anymore. It isn’t faith and trust to know it all.

But it isn’t like God doesn’t drop hints. The Old Testament, the part of the Bible that comes before the stories of Jesus are full of the hints the Kingdom. Start at the beginning of the book and you find God hanging out with Adam and Eve – God in the garden. God promises to Abraham a nation out of his offspring. Exodus is the story of God’s coming to save that nation. The Psalms are songs to remember, remind and reinforce – all God has done and all He promises to do. The prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, drop hints as to what is in store. Paul said all that “was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4

What is in store, is God in the flesh. God moved next door, He came here to be with us. Jesus comes to us and we see more of God, the image clears up a bit more. Jesus came to us healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead and restoring hope to people. But…for some that wasn’t enough. Hints about the Kingdom wouldn’t do. Jesus even said he was the image of God in the flesh and still, that was not sufficient.
That group came to Jesus, a group which held the power of life and death in their hands and said,

"Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign." 39) [and Jesus] responded, "The people of an evil and unfaithful era look for a miraculous sign. But the only sign they will get is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40) Just as Jonah was in the belly of a huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. (Matthew 12:38-40 GW)

Seeing the package didn’t fit their thinking, they wanted to be able to peek. But God, the loving Father, the Parent who doesn’t fail to keep promises, nurtures in us hope. It is hope we draw on when we are close to Jesus – when we are in relationship to Jesus, nothing can separate us from God.

In the concentration camps of Germany, holocaust survivor, Victor Frankel observed, “Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and thereby improved his chances of survival.” (Man's Search for Meaning, p. 123)

Orson Swindle, a Vietnam POW, talks of how important "church" was when he and the others were being held individually in separate rooms. Signals were given unknown to the guards it was time to pray. Prisoners said silently, the 23rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer. When the time came, that the Vietnamese allowed prisoners together, it was John McCain who was chosen to lead. In his words it was,

"not because the senior ranking officer thought I was [gifted] with any particular extra brand of religion, but because I knew all of the words of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed." Christian Science Monitor

Those creeds reminded them of the simple truths of God's faithfulness and love. They gave a reason to hope.

Hope is to anticipate with Expectation and Confidence. God has been active in the past as the writing in the Bible tell us. God has kept his promise of salvation in sending Jesus and the gift of the Spirit in our lives. In the past and the present, we have hints of what is to come. So as we live close Jesus, as we live our faith in worship and times of personal prayer, in our giving of our selves in service and in our wealth, as we live in faith in Jesus as God’s Son and our savior, we have hope.

Growing up, I saw that image seemed to be everything. People judged others on what they could do, how they dressed, what they had and what they knew. I came to realize I just could not measure up with what the world demanded. I grew angry without hope for my future. But a couple of leaders who were in my Scout troop and who volunteered at church, accepted me for who I was. Their actions showed me grace, that God saw me differently. I chose to follow Jesus and began living with peace, hope and a future.

Because of that hope, I’ve trusted God with my family and my life. I have hope that God will care for us in the start of this new church. The tighter we get with Jesus, the greater the hope. There is no need to peek when you know the character of the gift giver.


May I Ask: What time or times can you point to where you've experienced God's presence and seen what appears to be His work?

May I Suggest: Plan in the next week to be present in a worship service, to pray for a moment each day, to serve someone or make a donation. Be an instrument of hope.

Pick up a copy of Victor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning." You can read excerpts here.