Lent: A Journey to Hope in Uncertain TimesSample

The call to endure in the faith is found throughout the New Testament. Endurance is necessary because the world is not as it should be. Heartache and hurt of all kinds are inevitable. It can be easier to surrender to the challenges of suffering instead of surrendering them to Jesus. What’s the difference? Surrendering to the challenges places us in a posture of accepting that the world is full of problems that affect us individually, communally, and globally. There’s not much we can do about it. This posture leads to despair, the opposite of hope. On the other hand, surrendering the challenges of suffering to Jesus produces “endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:5, ESV). This posture is honest that this world is unfair and unkind, full of disappointment and discouragement. And yet, there is hope in Jesus as we go through the pain.

REFLECT

• Faith, hope, and love are often mentioned together in Scripture. What stands out to you about their relationship in the following passage?

RESPOND

• This passage lays out a progression for developing hope (endurance produces character, etc.). Where have you seen or experienced this in your life or in the lives of other people of faith?
• Where do you need to be honest about the suffering and challenges you are experiencing so you can cultivate authentic hope?
• How can this honesty bring you to a posture of surrender?