當盼望不再存在時When Hope Is No More
作者: Burk Parsons 譯者: Maria Marta
人生充滿了失望。 在這墮落的罪惡世界，人令我們失望，我們也讓人失望。 我們讓我們的朋友、我們所愛的人，甚至我們自己失望。我們不僅要面對自己人生中的失望，而且也不由得同情起那些面對失望的我們的朋友和我們所愛的人来。令我們失望的不單單是人。 事也同樣令我們失望。 我們認為會令我們開心的事總讓我們沮喪，我們試圖在人身上找到我們最終的幸福，但總令我們失望。 當我們試圖在自己身上找到最終的幸福和盼望時，情況尤其如此。
那些認為「生命的真諦就是從自己身上挖掘內心的幸福快樂」的人，總會失望。這正是上帝對我們的設計。因為只有當我們對自己切底絕望時，我們才真正盼望在上帝裏面，上帝不會讓人失望，因為祂不能讓人失望。人變得對自己無望是上帝主權的行動，唯獨祂能使我們從對自己存有盼望轉向盼望在祂裏面。盼望是上帝的恩賜禮物。上帝按著自己旨意所喜悅的，在創世之前，選擇將永恒的盼望賜給從各邦國、各支派、各民族、各方言揀選出來的人。全為了上帝的榮耀，以及為了我們永恒和地上的好處，因著上帝的恩典，我們蒙賜盼望，因著上帝聖靈的大能，盼望在我們內面支撐著我們。
上帝所賜給我們的盼望不是一種妄想。它不僅僅是我們人生一切如意順利時所擁有的一種感覺。盼望不是一種性格氣質，也不是一種簡單的自助策略。盼望是一種堅定不移的信念，根植於我們的信仰，充滿我們的內心和一生。盼望不是失望不存在了，而是聖靈的臨在。因此保羅寫道：「盼望是不會令人蒙羞的，因為 神藉著所賜給我們的聖靈，把他的愛澆灌在我們的心裡。」（羅五5；《聖經新譯本》） 然而，盼望是這世上的事。在新天新地，盼望将不存在。在那裏，我們將不再需要任何盼望，我們將擁有我們曾經盼望的一切，因為我們與我們的救主同住和敬拜祂，祂永遠都不會再讓我們面對失望。因此，讓我們不要將最終的盼望寄予在今生的事上，因為我們總會失望，而是將我們每日的盼望寄予在耶穌基督身上，和我們與祂同在的永恒的家園上，在那裏，沒有任何人、任何事會讓我們再次失望。
本文原刊于Tabletalk雜誌2018年五月號 。
When
Hope Is No More
by
Burk Parsons
ife
is full of disappointment. In this fallen world of sin, people disappoint us,
and we disappoint them. We disappoint our friends, our loved ones, and we even
disappoint ourselves. Not only do we ourselves face disappointment in life, we
also cannot help but sympathize with our friends and loved ones over the
disappointments they face. However, it is not just people that disappoint us.
Things disappoint us too. Things we think will make us happy always let us
down, and people in whom we try to find our ultimate happiness disappoint. This
is particularly the case when we try to find ultimate happiness and hope in
ourselves.
Those
who think life is all about being happy in themselves by finding happiness
within themselves will always be disappointed. That’s precisely how God
designed us. For it is only when we become utterly hopeless about ourselves
that we really hope in God, and God does not disappoint, because He cannot
disappoint. Becoming hopeless about ourselves takes a sovereign act of God, who
alone enables us to turn from hoping in ourselves to hoping in Him alone. Hope
is a gift from God. Out of the good pleasure of His will, before the foundation
of the earth, He has chosen to give eternal hope to those whom He elected from
every tribe, tongue, and nation. Hope is given to us by God’s grace, and it is
sustained in us by God’s Spirit for our earthly and eternal good and all for
God’s glory.
The
hope that God gives us is not wishful thinking. It’s not merely a feeling we
have when everything is going well in life. It’s not a personality temperament,
nor is it simply a self-help strategy. Hope is a steadfast, unwavering
conviction rooted in our faith and overflowing into our hearts and minds and
all of life. Hope is not the absence of disappointment, it is the presence of
the Holy Spirit. For Paul writes, “. . . Hope does not disappoint, because the
love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
was given to us” (Rom. 5:5 NASB). However, hope is a thing of this world. It
will be nonexistent in the new heaven and new earth. We will no longer have any
need for hope there, because we will have everything we ever could have hoped
for as we dwell with and worship our Savior, who will never again allow us to
face disappointment. Therefore, let us not set our ultimate hope on the things
of this life, for we will always be disappointed, but let us fix our daily hope
on Jesus Christ and our eternal home with Him where no one and nothing will
ever disappoint us again.
Dr.
Burk Parsons (@BurkParsons) is editor of Tabletalk magazine, senior pastor of
Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., a visiting lecturer at Reformed
Theological Seminary, and a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow. He is editor
of John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology.