The "P" Word

We all need hope.

Where is your hope? What gives you hope? How do you gain hope? Hope is a very powerful. It is essential for all of life, if you ask me, and you didn’t but oh well. :D

James wants to remind us of our true hope.

As we come to the end of the book of James we must realize these final verses will help us grow in hope, but hope is not always easy.

Eschatology is the study of end time.

This includes what we may commonly know about judgement, death, heaven & hell, and the future world God is making. It is not just about one of these things but all of them and some. Eschatology is necessary, at least James says, for us to have real hope.

Eschatology can produce hope.

This is not always a given. Sometimes we can study so much the last things we become paralyzed or willing to go fight every battle. We may even run away from certain things.

Our view of eschatology must influence present day living.

This is what James says here in the whole book. This is also what Jesus was concerned about. I have specific views on the End times but my particular view is not “essential” in a way meaning all people must hold to it to be Christians.

Jesus is coming again!

This is the foundation of all view of the end times and is crucial to the Christian faith. This is the essential view of end time. Jesus promised in John and other places he would come back to come and get us.

We need to live now what we will be in the future.

The idea of the “already not yet” view of the Kingdom and end times. The promise of almost all of eschatology is not to just puff up knowledge or to give us a bunch of exact details, but to encourage us to continue to live today with the end in mind. What really matters is that one day we will be with Jesus face to face—today however we have His Spirit and can live as if the kingdom is now.

Patience is the outgrowth of Jesus’ truth.

This is why James says what he does. Because of the truth-Jesus is coming back, we can be patient with one another. Because Jesus is the judge we can not judge one another harshly on some things.

God’s story is filled with patience and perseverance.

Think of all the great stories of Scripture, of which James brings one or two to mind. Jesus was patient with his time on this Earth. Peter tells is that God is patient so that many others will come to know Him. We too can be patient and persevere because we know how things end.

God’s character helps us live in relationship with others.

Let us not forget this.

May we grow in our hope in Jesus and His truth!

This is my goal.