Hope Is An Act Of Rebellion

 A few weeks back, I was listening to a radio show host online. He was talking about all of the crazy stuff going on in the world, all of the depressed callers on his program that call in with so many devastating problems, some concerns in his personal life... and he honestly spoke of how difficult it is sometimes to see hope in the midst of all these things. He mentioned how it seems like more and more, people are becoming increasingly pessimistic, cynical, angry, and negative and it's getting even harder to be the type of person who looks at situations and says, "but things just might work out in the end." To be the one who, amidst all the noise and the chaos and the discouragement and despair, believes that there is still good, that there is still love, that there is still possibility makes one look out-of-touch. unrealistic.   

The host continued that, in past ages, rebellion was seen as something that got you killed. You were an overthrower. a disrupter to the peace. But now, it almost feels like the choice to be bravely optimistic, to choose joy, to choose hope, to be kind puts you against the flow and makes it look like you are in the same category as a disturber - all because you decided to believe in a bigger picture. A greater good. A larger plan. You get called crazy for standing in faith and determining that whatever catastrophe is in front of yourself or anyone else doesn't get the last word. And so the host said that, in these days, what we most need is a rebellion of hope. 

Hope is an act of rebellion, he said, and the hard path is kindness. 

Here we find ourselves in Advent, when we feel in our deepest soul the longing for righted wrongs, the cry for the coming of the Desire of Nations, the want for Emmanuel to draw ever nearer. And perhaps never more in history than right now did we need a resurgence of hope - a bone-deep belief and trust that the world has been invaded by Hope Himself and we are never alone. Maybe the true meaning of this season is needed most because so many have quietly quit on hope. Worn down by the cares and confusion of a broken world, they have thrown in the towel on any redemptive purpose and find themselves shaking their heads at those who refuse to stop looking for the true, the good, the beautiful. Out of their pain and disgust, they call us "dream chasers" and think we're on some mission that goes nowhere. And I find myself realizing that someone has to hold the line. Someone has to keep digging in and standing with hope. When most have abandoned it because they felt it abandoned them, someone has to start a silent act of defiance and trust in the ever-renewing plans of the Almighty. 

As I listen to this host share his thoughts and his personal determination to stick with hope at all costs, it suddenly hits me that the greatest act of rebellion ever performed was started by the Prince of Peace when He arrived in a manger in human form, with the intent of one day giving His life for the redemption of mankind and the defeat of death evermore. He didn't raise up armies of warriors to subdue earthly powers as his followers expected. He didn't take down the system with violence, but with love. He who has set all things under His sovereign authority humbled Himself and entered our painful world so we would know what true hope looks like. And because hell was defeated forever when He walked out of the grave, we can know beyond any shadow of doubt that hope isn't just mere wishful thinking - it's assurance and peace in what is most certain and true. 

And so, every time we choose to hold the hard things with this underlying knowing that even this will be made beautiful... every time we grip onto faith with all that we have and refuse to let go... every time we counter hatred with an act of love... every time we choose kindness over judgement... every time we say yes to Jesus and no to the way of ease... every time we face the darkness and believe there will be a light to our path and a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105), then we are deliberately participating in this hopeful rebellion and showing others to the Way Himself. He who made a way in a manger continues to make a way today... in all our troubles and all our fears and all our mess on this wild planet. He has never stopped His mission to win hearts and minds with His truth, and we can know without a doubt that hope marches on because of Him. 

This holiday season, and in every season really, I'm all in on the hard path and the hope rebellion. What about you?