Are you experiencing hope fatigue?
Are you wearied by our culture of contempt?
Are you exhausted by being in a continual state of outrage?
If you answered yes, maybe that’s why you listen to or watch the Gospelbound podcast. You also might want to pick up the new book by Irwyn Ince, because he asks these three questions at the outset of Hope Ain’t a Hustle: Persevering by Faith in a Wearying World (IVP).
Ince is the coordinator of Mission to North America, which is under the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Previously, he was a pastor at Grace DC Presbyterian Church. He’s also the author of The Beautiful Community.
“Christian hope seems unreasonable,” Ince writes, “because very often we will not experience victory in this life. Christian hope informs this life by being a forward-facing and upward-gazing perspective as our great high priest intercedes for us.”
Indeed, Christian hope is countercultural in the world, and even sometimes in the church. Ince wrote this book in part because he wanted us to know that faithfulness to Christ isn’t the same thing as waging culture wars effectively. At the same time, Christian hope doesn’t guarantee coasting above the storms of this life. “When you reject the world,” Ince writes, “the world often wants to eject you.”
So why do we endure? Because of Christ, of course. Ince writes,
If the arc of the moral universe does indeed bend toward justice, that arc will never be smooth and straight from a human perspective. It will have twists and turns, ups and downs, starts and stops. Our hope, if it is to be enduring, must be rooted in the glory of Jesus Christ.
Ince also serves on the Board and Council of The Gospel Coalition. He joined me on Gospelbound to discuss where he finds hope, how we can hear the voice of the Lord, and why telling the truth about injustice is a friend to hope.
The Gospel Coalition