One of my favorite quotes from Benedict XVI is, “The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.” Truly having hope in life will alter how you see things, how you respond to events, and how you live overall in your life. It will uplift you and help you to have peace regardless of your circumstances.
When you have everlasting hope, you see the light when you are shrouded in darkness. You see solutions in the most difficult situations, you keep in mind that whatever obstacle or burden that may come, you have a God who can guide you and see you through it. He can open doors, move mountains, turn seas into highways, and graves into gardens.
This is called having Mustard Seed Vision. In Matthew 13:31-32, Jesus says,
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, yet when full grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”
Jesus is looking at the seed, which is extremely small, unimpressive, and does not seem very useful, but He sees a large plant that can host various birds and be used for a variety of food products. This is often how we need to look at things, particular problems, burdens, difficulties, or any time we feel like we are stuck and shrouded in darkness unable to see the light.
With His physical eyes, Jesus sees a tiny seed, but with His spiritual eyes, He sees what the seed can become. Sometimes we need to focus on how things are and accept that reality, but we should also remember that, with God, reality is deeper, and our futures are brighter.
We could technically say that not every mustard seed will actually grow into a bush; sometimes problems with that happen, I am sure. However, with God it is not so. Your future will be good with God 100% of the time if you trust in Him and follow Him. You will always have hope. So you need to learn to look at your life with Mustard Seed Vision.
It was by looking at the circumstances with Mustard Seed Vision that David was able to look at the giant Goliath and see victory. The woman in Mark 5, who suffered from hemorrhages for 12 years, looked at Jesus and saw healing. Jesus was able to look at the cross and see Eternal Life. These people had Mustard Seed Vision. They could all see what was there without physically seeing it, just like Jesus saw the large plant in the mustard seed.
In a similar way, this is how you are to have everlasting hope. You must see with more than your physical eyes. We can say that another phrase for Mustard Seed vision is spiritual vision, and everlasting hope is undoubtedly found through spiritual vision.
The unknown future can be terrifying. It can seem like a gamble to put in effort and assume everything will work out. After everything we read online and see in the news, at times life can seem hopeless. However, this could not be more wrong. We always have tremendous hope.
Yes, life is not always blue skies, fields of flowers, and rainbows, but even on bad days and amid terrible suffering, we have a future full of hope. We have reason to believe suffering and evil are not the end. They may have their day, but goodness, joy, peace, and life will have the victory if we choose them.
The best part is we can enjoy this victory right now. The victory that Jesus won from His death on the cross can be experienced by anyone who wants it in this exact moment. We simply have to want it and seek it out.
This want must be strong — stronger than a day’s worth of inclination toward it. We must be willing to make sacrifices for it and persevere. But before you get hung up on this idea of making sacrifices, know that God will help you.
When I was a daily drinker, unable to give up my addiction to alcohol out of fear of losing my ability to function around others, I gave God permission to enter my life. He helped me to overcome. He helped me sacrifice the things I clung to, in turn allowing Him to do much more.
The more I gave to God, the more He gave to me, eclipsing my sacrifices with something I don’t have the words to describe. He gave this to me because I wanted it, and I let Him take from me what He did not want for me. It was at times scary and uncomfortable, but always very good in the end.
This may still seem difficult to understand and really needs to be experienced for it to be fully grasped. To help others experience this, I have created a 10-step course, called Unlocked, that is complete with 10 KEYS or tactics to incorporate into your life so that you can grow in this everlasting hope and have the peace that God created you for.
Each KEY is covered with 4 video lessons which are released over the course of two weeks. To ensure that the lessons are better incorporated into your life, and not simply received and then forgotten, the full course of 10 KEYS is released over the span of 20 weeks. It is a commitment; however, it is also a journey in which you will grow in your relationship with God and learn how to have this hope.
If this resonates with you, or you know someone else whom you think would benefit from this course, check out zenithministries.com/courses to learn more or sign up.
Begin receiving the lessons today to help you discover the life you were meant for.
