A Certain Future in Uncertain Times

Life seems uncertain. Everything can seem out of our control at times. Sometimes we struggle mightily to have some control, but in the end we often feel powerless. After all, in any given political election up to 50% of the people will be disappointed. You can watch the news unfold at 6:00, but there seems to be little you can do to change it. You can spend your whole life taking care of your body by diet and exercise, only to find yourself in a car accident that causes you some sort of physical suffering or disability. You do not know what will happen tomorrow, you do not know what events might unfold that will change your life forever. Uncertainty is not theoretical, it is a given.

So what do we do with uncertainty? If we must live in uncertainty, are we consigned to hopelessness? Or, do we find that we have some form of hope, but since we know deep down this "hope" is contingent on too many things we can't control (and therefore we don't really know if what we hope for will come to pass)? And if we must live with uncertainty about the future, do we give up and give in when things get difficult? After all, things may not turn out well in the end, so why put ourselves through suffering now?

We could pontificate and speculate endlessly about this point, but we do not need to because God's Word speaks to this question. The apostle Peter writes, in a praise to God, that God "has caused us to be born again to a living hope..." But how can this be? How can we have hope (which requires some sense of certainty) if the future is ultimately out of our control? Praise be to God (or, in Peter's words, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"), He is in control! Our hope derives not from our ability to control the future and secure our own salvation, but precisely from the fact that we don't have control! God secures the future of those who "have been born again to a living hope."

God's finished work in the past (the resurrection of Jesus) provides the means whereby God produces new life in us which results in a living hope (and all of this because God is abundantly merciful to us!)

What else does God give us? An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. The things which cause this world to have so much uncertainty - things break, fall apart, fade away, or become corrupted or spoiled in some way - most certainly do not affect our future inheritance! It is beyond the destruction and corruption of this world. And what gives us certainty that this is so? Because it is "reserved for us." It is not our work to create our inheritance - it is "reserved" for us that it may be given to us.

But the important question remains - what makes this future inheritance so certain? The answer - God. It is he who, by his power, protects those who are receiving the inheritance. We have a responsibility (we are protected "through faith" - we must have faith!) but it is through Christ's resurrection that we have hope and it is God's power that ultimately protects us and finally saves us in the end.

I hope that these thoughts have prompted you to read the Scriptures and ask whether these things are truly so, but there is much more that must be said about Jesus Christ and the (certain) hope of salvation. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email - it is a conversation worth having!


The above thoughts are based on I Peter 1:3-5, which is reprinted here:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an
inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.