The title of this text is in today’s newspapers, it was on news broadcasts yesterday and is there whenever you listen to the news. Easily you are going to remember recent facts or ones from longer ago, some incidents took place close to you, others far away. Communication today is so easy and involving that it does not permit anyone to be unaware of what is happening, especially shocking things.
In the end, we have to agree with Konrad Lorenz, who classified the disappearance of the most noble qualities and facultities of the human being as an “apocalyptical process”. We are all hostages of fear, surrounded by vices, watching all types of degradation and destruction.
Humanity is in danger. The idea of getting everything as quickly as possible (whether on an individual level or among people groups) is reducing human relationships to a savage condition.
After the murder of the little six-year old boy, João Hélio, in Rio de Janeiro (he died as a result of being drug through the streets of the city, confined by a seatbelt, after robbers had stolen the family car), the ethics specialist Peter Singer, from Princeton University in the United States declared “When supposedly normal people commit cruelity like this, it is a sign that society has lost control of itself and people no longer have the notion of right and wrong.”
If we were to focus only on problems, we would have more than enough reasons to reach a conclusion that there is no solution for humanity. However, the good news is that there is hope for our diseased society. The solution comes from outside of us. Provisions were made by God. The plan is explained in the Bible, and it is the reason for our hope.
This is the main objective of the Word of God, according to what is written in Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” In this same chapter, the Apostle Paul reaffirmed, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13).
This same apostle summarized the strategy for redemption in a clear manner: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NKJV).
As you have noticed in the verse above, the point of departure is faith, or in other words, depending on God and accepting an inconceivable plan of salvation that is absolutely real and effective. The objective is loving God and one another. And the point between these two virtues is hope. But the Bible affirms that above any and all hope in relation to the future of this world is the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), in other words, the Second Coming of Jesus. He promised, “I will come again” (John 14:3).
Márcio Dias Guarda
Suggestions
1. Nurture the flame of hope. An interesting manner of doing this is through studying the Bible. There, as in no other source, the history of humanity is not only summarized, but adequately supplied with the provisions already made by God and also with clear and trustworthy information regarding the final and conclusive, divine solution for human problems.
2. Participate. Since you have priviledged information regarding the future, God’s plans, promote and participate in acts that improve social conditions in your community and help to prepare it for the future.
3. Don’t despair. You are not alone in this mission. The most important part has already been accomplished. God, angels of good, and millions of people are involved in tasks that converge upon the same objective. And soon, very soon, our hope will be made known.
