Hallelujah!
You can thrive in hard times
Because it's not about you
Something huge, ancient, and good is percolating in our world. It began long before we arrived on this earth, and it is coming to fruition in spite of all the pain, abuse, and dysfunction we see around us, all the mistakes we have made, all the things we have suffered.
Once we become aware of this huge reality, this overwhelming global trend, we each get to decide whether to SYNC with it or not. We were created to SYNC with it, so if we opt in, we are being true to our real selves. But part of us doubts its validity, so the choice is not easy.
So what is this global trend?
The trend is toward Life—the good, authentic, and very sweet life. To thrive is to be in SYNC with this Life. Out of SYNC with it, we start down into a death spiral.
Life on earth was always supposed to be good, but things fell apart at the dawn of the human story. God, the Divine Gardener, did not walk away or stand helplessly by. He launched a process to reconnect, heal, and bless the world.
That process has a strategy centered on one God-appointed person—the "Messiah" (the anointed or appointed one). The ancient prophets predicted this person called would arise to lead the implementation of the strategy. When the process was complete, the Messiah would rule a global utopia—a world of perfect peace, bursting with life and joy.
Jesus knew all about the process and the strategy, and he knew he was the ultimate Life-bringer. "I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness" (John 10.10, Good News Translation).
When will Jesus create this Messianic utopia?
He obviously did not perfect the planet while he lived here. That convinced many people that he could not be God's real Messiah. He failed to do what the promised Messiah was expected to do.
But others insisted he was the Messiah because he did something no one thought anyone could do. After being crucified, he came back to life! Then he explained the strategy in more detail to his followers, and he showed them how the ancient prophets had predicted it all, though everyone had missed the true meaning.
God's strategy is not for the Messiah to impose utopia by violent force but to introduce it gradually through people who honor Jesus as the real Messiah and obey him as if he already rules the world. Jesus puts his resurrection life—the very essence of a utopian future—into his people and sends them out as positive, life-giving people into a world that seems fixated on a death-wish.
This gradual strategy leaves Jesus's representatives temporarily vulnerable to attack by his enemies, but the way they handle the attack is part of the way they bring in the peace of the future. They accept attacks in the same way Jesus did, showing that the world has entered a new era of forgiveness instead of self-defense and revenge.
The followers of Jesus do not fight fire with fire, violence with violence, or death with death. They are life-bringers, not death-dealers. And what is utopia but a world full of life-bringers?
Getting real about the present
As you get into the idea of Life Season, you gradually realize who Jesus really is—the Messiah, the person who brings the Life of the universe into us and our personal worlds. This realization is a gift we receive from God and spread to others, just like the blessings of the other six seasons—Roots, Freedom, Power, Mercy, Worth, and Vision.
God is on a Get Real campaign in the here and now, and that campaign will succeed. The world will be connected, healed, and blessed, exactly according to plan. That is our guaranteed future. That is reality.
That is what we SYNC with. We live generously. We thrive as we overflow with life for others. That is our assignment—to be positive, bring life into the present. Even people who do not agree with us have to respect that.
Some will join us as life-bringers. If others attack us, so be it. We still will continue to live generously because we believe in a future when God will reward us. Our sacrifices in the present are ways of investing in our future.
Of course, if we are wrong about Jesus—if he is not the one God assigned to bring the Messianic utopia into reality, if he did not rise from the dead, if he is not the one prompting us inside to bring life to those around us—then all our "investments" will be lost. On the other hand, if he is the Messiah, no risk is too great. It’s your call.