My Future's So Bright...
There was a famous song in the 1980s entitled, My Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades. This song was played and parodied on radio stations and television shows for several years. The emphasis of this song was an encouragement to continue working on reaching educational goals in order that a person would get a good job coming out of college. As I was reminded of that song, I considered the bright future in store for each of us who are followers of Jesus Christ. Our hope is built on the reality that Jesus' death and resurrection give us the assurance that one day we will experience the fullness of God's goodness when we enter into our resurrected bodies and experience the fullness of life eternal. In Isaiah 61:2, we read, "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God." As we continue on our Lenten adventure, we may recognize there continues to be areas of our lives where we feel empty and are searching. This feeling of emptiness and hopelessness leads us away from a full experience of God's presence in our lives. We find ourselves entering into a hopeless state, but then we are reminded in the worst situations we encounter that there will come a day when we will fully experience the Lord's favor and all things will be set aright in the fully realized Kingdom of God. It is easy for us to become enamored with material objects and present satisfaction, only to realize that the accomplishments and material possessions in this world are not eternal and will falter and leave us stranded. The present economic condition and negative social climate leaves us searching for something that is stable and life giving. In the midst of suffering and searching, we have a task to proclaim a better day, the day of the Lord's favor. The Psalmist summed up for us the beauty of spending a day in the Lord's court when he wrote in Psalm 84:10-11, "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless." How are you doing in your walk with Christ? Do you face each day knowing that as you walk with Christ, there are brighter days ahead? Do you know that in Christ your future is bright and full of great hope? Are you proclaiming this Good News that in Christ there will be a day of the Lord's favor that will last into all eternity? I don't know about you, but in the midst of difficult days, weeks, and months, I continue to rest in the knowledge that there will be a great day when I will fully experience the presence of God as I live in His Kingdom in its fullest. Praise be to God! Prayer: There are difficult times in our lives, O Lord, where it is easy for us to lose focus on your unending love. Help us understand what it means to live in the knowledge of the year of the Lord's favor. Cause us to live in the fullness of this knowledge ready to face all opposition with the hope of our bright future. Amen.
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