One day, the world’s hope will come to an abrupt end. Although the world (apart from Christ) derives its hope from several sources, their common ground revolves around the fact that their hope is not in God. The Bible points to the results: “the hypocrite’s hope shall perish” (Job 8:13), “all that forget God” (Job 8:13) will see their hope “cut off” (Job 8:14), and the hope of the wicked “shall be as the giving up of the ghost” (Job 11:20). Unfortunately, the world can only focus upon the here and now. They judge everything by how things are presently taking place. If they gain (riches, health, material goods, promotions), they assume that they have hope, yet they fail to see that there will be no hope when God brings judgment upon their souls (Job 27:8).
Christians frequently find it difficult to consistently make their practice align with their position in Christ. The saints of God are positionally blameless in Christ, but practically, each believer must strive daily to “be blameless and harmless . . . in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.” In this world, believers represent the Lord as sons of God. As such, they should “do all things without murmurings and disputings.” Why is this so very important? The importance points to the fact that believers are to “shine as lights in the world.” It is imperative that every believer strives daily to live a godly life and preserves a godly testimony in a world that has little to no knowledge of God (Matthew 5:16).
