In Whom Do We Place Our Hope?

You know that game you used to play when you were kids. . .a friend would say, “Name the first thing that pops in your head when I say ____.”  Well, I wonder if we played that game with the world, and then read them the following verse, who would pop in their heads:

“In his name the nations will put their hope” (Matthew 12:21).

Are you thinking about President Obama right now?  Maybe you know that this verse is referring to Jesus, the real Messiah, not our president, but how many Americans put their hope in the fallible man, Barack Obama?  How many have placed him on a pedestal that no mortal should occupy and set their highest hopes and deepest dreams at his feet?  His campaign was known for chanting hope across all 50 states.  He promised it.  He manipulated emotions with it.  He won the presidency because of that strategy.  People are longing for hope.

But how many Americans have been disappointed?  And that’s not a statement on President Obama (although I deal with that in various other blogs), it’s more a statement on the inability of any human being–and the absurdity of such a request–to provide the hope that only God can provide, made available through Jesus Christ.

I’m not sure I’ve seen such desperation for hope as I saw last November.  It saddens me that so many people are that hungry for something readily available to all in the Truth of God’s Word and in the person of Jesus Christ, and yet they placed their hope in a man until it bordered on idolatry.  Many times I felt as if I were watching a rock concert in which women were on the front row, weeping from the emotion of being that close to. . .what?. . .greatness?  I think we’ve attached some kind of Hollywood-star-status to our president and now many hang on his every word, looking for something he says or does to bring us life and fulfillment.

Lisa Harper, in a Walk in the Word devotional, says, “We need to quit bowing at the altar of mortal charisma.”  And isn’t that exactly what many fans of President Obama have done?  They are bowing down in worship of charisma. . .and in worship of the man that made them feel hopeful and empowered.  This is a dangerous place to be.  If charisma and good feelings are all that is needed to cause people to abandon their values, then we as a nation will crumble.  And if charisma and good feelings are all that is needed to cause people to place their hope in a mere mortal rather than in a loving Savior, there is more at stake here than an election or even a country.  Eternity is on the line.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you” (I Peter 1:3-4).

Click here for real, true, and lasting hope.