Part Two
Sometimes things are not always what they seem to be on the surface. "Pentimento" is an artistic word which means: the reappearance through a painting of traces of an earlier painting from beneath. The following story might illustrate a connection of this in human terms.A man walked into a counselor’s office, and explained that he was very depressed, and had lost all meaning and purpose in life. He told the counselor that his plan was to end his life, but that this appointment was one last effort to find hope, and a reason to live. The counselor suggested all that he knew to help, but without success. The man was about to leave unchanged when the counselor bid him to stop. In an effort to take his mind off his troubles, and offer some temporary relief at least, he suggested the man attends a circus that had come to town. He explained that he took his wife and kids a couple days earlier. Amongst other things they were the most impressed with a clown that was so funny, he had the family laughing for hours afterward. The man refused the suggestion, and continued to leave. The counselor fearing the consequences if he did not help insisted to know why the man refused such a simple request. The man turned around and quietly said: "Because I am that clown."
The human portrait of hopelessness leaked through the grease-paint smile. It matters not if this story is true, because it serves to depict the desperate need that is common to all men: the need for hope. It has been said, the average man can live for weeks without food; for days without water; for minutes without air; but cannot survive for more than seconds without HOPE! A bit extreme? Maybe not. Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick..." And in 18:14 it says, "...but a wounded (crushed) spirit who can bear?
The Scriptures say much about hope. How the world defines hope and what the bible says about hope are worlds apart in meaning. Although hope in both cases is anticipation based on future expectancy, a believer’s hope rests in confidence on the One who holds the future. The world places their hope in the outcome of circumstance, while the Christian places his hope in the person of Christ Jesus. For the world, their hope is in fixing up the old Adam man. Trying to improve him, trying to make him good enough. For the Christian, his hope lies not in fixing up the old Adam, but in realizing the old man was put to death on a cross. The old man is dead, and we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. For the believer, his hope is steadfast blessed assurance based on the promises of God.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future." (NIV). The result of the world’s hope brings fear. Fear is the antithesis of faith. For the child of God, his faith is a gift from God that gives him that hope (confidence) in the final outcome. "But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).
Adams in his book, rates hope very high on the level of importance in the Scripture; and rightly so. Hope is one of the three intangibles indelibly linked with faith, and love of I Corinthians 13. He states that, "In one sense every counselee needs hope." For this reason he says, "A counselor must be, above much else, a man of hope." For the believer there is good reason to have hope. Faith in God offers the only true reason to have hope. Paul says in Ephesians 2:12 "That at one time you were without Christ...having no hope, and without God in this world." Verse 13 continues, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
Adams gives a list of ten classes of counselees who most frequently need a heavy stress upon hope. He admits the list is not exhaustive, but conspicuously missing from his list are children, and even more so -- teenagers. Although they may be suffering from one or more of the problems included in the list, often they are tangled up in the effects of being raised in a hopeless environment. The world only presents a hopeless end; they need to be told about the endless hope God presents!
The teenagers of today, are the leaders of tomorrow. They are the next generation to inherit this world. What a poor legacy to pass on to them if we are to give them a world filled with problems, and not give them the hope they need to deal with them. There are greater pressures on todays youth than at any other time in history. They have pressures to fit in to a worldly standard, with only a timid voice from the church raising up the standard of Christ.
It is to this group, that the Christian counselor; and all Christians alike for that matter; should pay particular attention. Sadly, many churches neglect their youth programs, or are engaged in entertainment trying to compete with Hollywood for their attention. As a result teenagers; in the midst of the most confused growth time of their life; are left without positive influential role models. If we don’t influence our kids, somebody else will! Kids that are given no solid foundation on which they can stand, will fall for anything. Better that we would invest in our youth now, than to pay for fixing the problems later. Better that we would sow the hope of the Gospel in their lives, than to reap a harvest of lost and confused souls without moral guidance and direction.
However, all is not lost. Jesus said: "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:31,32.
Now, did Jesus mean to say that there were those who are righteous that don’t need Him? Did He mean to say that there are those who are whole in themselves, and do not need His healing touch? The answer is no, but there are those who think they are whole, and think they are righteous, and that do not recognize their need. This is a most dangerous condition.
If one does not know they are drowning, then they will not ask to be saved. And so, often times we find that God will give us "a valley of Achor for a door of hope." Hosea 2:15. Achor means trouble, so that God says He will give us a valley of trouble for a doorway to enter into hope. Paul says in Romans 5:3-5 "... but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed..." It is sometimes not until we are on our backs, that we will look up!
So we see, it is common in the midst of man being in need, that he would hope for a solution to the difficulty. A most pressing need, can be a need for fulfillment to the emptiness of existence, without a relationship to our Father. Those who would seek after fame or fortune, will find it can magnify the emptiness. Perhaps as a last resort they may turn their attention to spiritual fulfillment in the hope it can provide relief from their trouble.
However, Christians who were "promised a rose garden" when they believed, need to be counseled in the hope of Scripture. The truth of the matter is that we are not promised a rose garden -- we are His rose garden! God is the gardener! The assurance of hope from the Scripture is that God is a very able botanist.
Now, I do not know much about gardening, but I have seen rose bushes after they have been pruned, and they are a pitiful sight. To the untrained eye; such as myself; they are nothing more than a stick in a sack of earth. It is to the loving Gardener’s eye that with great care who will cut away all the excess branches. And so we suffer a little loss, and a great loss, as seems good to the gardener. We wonder if we will survive such trials, such cutting away, such pruning, let alone ever bear another flower in His garden. Yet the Wise Gardener knows when to cut, and how much to cut, and when to withhold His hand. Even when it would seem unfair, or to much to bear, even to the rose bush that he should be pruned so much, for we know that no suffering (pruning) for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous.... The result is that of being a beautiful prized flower growing in His garden.
AMEN.
