Hope for Life’s Greatest Disappointments
This morning was the start of Advent. At our home church, we began the Christmas series with Hope.
We’re all too familiar with disappointment. It’s the gap between what we expected and what really happens. The unmet expectations of relationships, careers, and dreams. Maybe some of us are still young enough to think we’ll figure it out. But at some point, reality presses in, and we sense that something’s not right. The big, ugly questions come:
Who am I? What is my purpose? Where am I going?
Additionally, death is the great equalizer. No matter what we gather in this life, we can’t take it with us. That sober truth forces real change. It leaves a hole that every shallow comfort like status, curated happiness, or endless busyness can’t fill.
So where does the Christian hope come from? It came wrapped in a stinky, dirty manger in a small, insignificant town. Meek and lowly, the Creator of the universe tore through the veil of His creation and chose to meet us in the humblest way. Sin says, “I’ll be god.” That path leads to the death and suffering we experience in the world. God could have stayed above it all, untethered from His foolish creation, but instead He showed up to live the life we should have lived and die the death we should have died.
The Christian God is sometimes seen as the “Man of Sorrows.” Looking at the life of Jesus of Nazareth, whether or not you accept his claims, the human story reads like failure. Rejected by those closest to him, he offered love and compassion amid religiosity, rules, and shame—and was outcast. Betrayed by friends, abandoned when things got hard, and ultimately executed by crucifixion, the most brutal death of that time carried out by Roman authorities.
On the surface, it’s the greatest disappointment in human history. Is this really the story and the man Christianity hangs on? But then comes the greatest plot twist in human history when the tomb is found empty. By some miracle he was raised and appeared to hundreds of eyewitnesses (C.S. Lewis Institute, 2021).
The hope he offered was not a temporary fix but a promise that death can be conquered, that our relationship with the Creator can be restored, and that pain and suffering will not have the final word. Those claims are worth our attention even if we decide to write them off as rubbish.
On a personal note: the last few years have been the most difficult of my life. Disappointments, failed relationships, and not seeing my children for a year and a half have been crushing. My heart. Sick. I’ve experienced the wisdom of Proverbs all too well: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” At times, I’ve wanted to numb the pain rather than feel it.
Out of that pain, I started something called Swing for the King in an attempt to make something beautiful from the broken pieces. To use dance to build community and bring healing and restoration to a world that desperately needs it. I still wrestle with unmet expectations. Sometimes I cope poorly. Whether it’s binge-watching TV, isolating, or chasing things that don’t help.
We are creatures of worship. We must be careful where we run when we’re tired, scared, or lonely. As Andrew asked us to reflect, what’s competing for our worship? What's the next dopamine hit we’re seeking after that can act as a form of superficial hope, which collapses into self-help or self-rescue?
The biggest lie we’re told is that if we curate enough things in our lives, then we’ll be okay.
I’ve learned that my hope needs to be anchored in something that can withstand the weight of the brokenness of this life and the sorrows it will bring. My hope is rooted and anchored in that man who experienced the greatest disappointment but chose to love us through the end and will continue to be available to us should we want Him.
Citatations:
C.S. Lewis Institute. (2021, June 4). Questions That Matter Podcast – Gary Habermas: The Resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah [Podcast episode]. https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/questions-that-matter-podcast-gary-habermas-the-resurrection-of-jesus-the-messiah/
