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Discuss the SoulCare concept that Christianity is not about a better life; it is about a better hope.
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56 Replies
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Our focus is not of this earth, it is on the assurance of Christ. We cannot guarantee that people will have a better life in the immediate sense, but we can give people hope and joy through the knowledge of Christ and they can feel satisfied in Him as it is He who we were made for.
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Everyone wants a better life. Even non-believers want that. And many of them have it, have obtained thir goals, but how many of them are satisfied with the ‘better life’ that they have? It’s never enough. It’s not enough, because they don’t have the better hope. The better hope, in Christ involves moving toward God through the Spirit, and knowing that no matter the ‘quality’ of our life here on the earth, he is constant, and faithful, and though he may not protect us from all the evil and ills of the world, he will faithfully carry us through this life into the eternal, where the better hope will give way to the better life, one in which we are free of sin and will gladly worship and enjoy him forever.
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This reminds me of the question “do you want God or the things he gives us?” Want a better life is just our hearts longing for heaven, but this is not our home. God promises to be with us and he promises to never leave us and promises a hope of eternal life with him. That is the hope we cling to, not a comfortable life here on earth.
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God does not promise a better life, free of pain, suffering, relational struggles, death, illness, etc. He promises us hope, found only in Him. When we lead people toward the hope in Christ, we lead them toward something that will never fail and is available no matter what the outside circumstances happen to be. For us to instead focus on helping people gain a better life, we perpetuate the lie of this world, that all that is needed to solve our problems is to be better at figuring out how to manipulate the circumstances and people around us in order to get what we want. This is a hopeless, endless, exhausting process and does not uncover the root problem of idolatry in our lives. We need to expose the old way of living for what it is and lead them to Jesus’ new way of hope.
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What does it matter for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?
To gain a better life on this earth as the ultimate goal will result in the loss of it.
To have the hope of Jesus is to have eternal life.