We are continuing to look at the concept of Hope with Belief.

Christian Schools are renowned for their love and support for students and their families. That is often a major reason parents choose to enrol their children with us.

Most of us, when entering a Christian School, sense the warm and friendly nature of the community. There is a high level of care and safety that arises from our understanding of loving one another because we know of God’s love for us. There is strong guidance and pastoral engagement; a seeking of shalom and developing the right environment for flourishing. There is a commitment to serving one another within the school community and beyond.

These are all excellent things, and we should keep doing them!

It is not our deliberate intention, but could we be inadvertently suggesting that there is a presumption of the right to ease and comfort?

How do we seek to ensure that our students have a genuine relationship with Jesus, and see things clearly through His eyes, not just a desire to be part of a loving community doing good? Being a disciple of Christ is never described in the Bible as a life of ease and comfort.

Even social commentators like Hugh McKay suggest that there is a danger in presuming that we have a right to happiness. If we allow our young people to believe that happiness and comfort is their right, that would actually be dishonest. McKay suggests that if we believe that there is an “Entitlement” to be happy all the time … then disappointment is guaranteed.

We would go even further and say that the Scriptures do not indicate that it is God’s task to ensure ease and comfort in our lives. It is not something that He has ever promised us in this world.

This doesn’t mean that we go looking for suffering, pain, or difficulty but the Bible is pretty clear that these things will continue to be part of our lives on earth.

Maybe as we consider “Hope with Belief” – we need to be considering that hope comes from our belief and understanding of the totality of Scriptures rather than just the comfortable bits? Maybe the uncomfortable aspects help us to deepen our belief?

Let’s explore that for a bit.

Blessings
Brian