Last night the Chicago Cubs began their 2016 season with a win against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. (I wrote that last sentence before the game started so I hope that it came true). It’s a weird year for me as a Cubs fan. For most of my life the Cubs have been terrible and the hope of a new season quickly turned to shame and anger. After a 97-win season last year, though, the Cubs are a popular pick to win the World Series.
Is the world ending?
I don’t believe that the book of Revelation lays out exactly how the world is going to end. I don’t think we should waste our time trying to figure out who the beast is or when the fourth seal is going to be broken. We’re still batting .000 on predicting the end of the world. However, if there were a sign that Jesus was close to making his return, it would be the Cubs winning the World Series.
Hope is an amazing thing, but its strength is based upon that in which we’re hoping. If I place my hope in Jesus, then that hope is never going to fail me. No matter what I face, not matter what I experience, no matter how dark the night, I know that Jesus is always going to show up. That is what Jesus does so he is worthy of my hope.
Over the course of my life the Cubs have proven themselves unworthy of my hope. In 2003, 2007 and 2008 the Cubs not only broke my heart, but also ripped it still beating out of my chest, stomped on it and then flung it into the ivy that lines the outfield wall of Wrigley Field. In spite of their unworthiness, I keep placing my hope in them every year.
This year, though, that hope doesn’t seem as misplaced as before. The Cubs have a lot of young stars, they made upgrades to their pitching rotation and they have the best manager in baseball. So while my eternal hope is only in Jesus, I’m allowing my hope to spring eternal for the Cubs this opening day.
In what are you tempted to place your hope?
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