CREDIT: Maurits Verbiest via Flickr

What are the three most important characteristics of being a Christian?

There are three that are highlighted in the New Testament as they occur together time and time again. What would you put in your top three?

The Apostle Paul says, “and now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love“. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Faith looks back to the past looking to what Jesus has done; love has eyes on the present, our response everyday for what Jesus has done; hope looks forward.

While love may be the greatest, I wonder if it is hope that we are most in need of being reminded of?

Hope is often used today to mean something along the lines of wishful thinking, the kind of characteristic you would find among optimistic people.

But hope is a characteristic for all Christians. Our hope is not in some vague picture of the future, but in the solid truth of the resurrection.

Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit of that day when he will return and raise us up to the new creation, our glorious inheritance.

So Paul prays: “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance.”  (Ephesians 1:18.)

Why is it that our hope grows dim?

Perhaps our love for this world is too big? We don’t long for the new creation because we are so captivated by this one?

Perhaps our longing for justice is not big enough? We can become skeptical that nothing will ever change, forgetting that Jesus’ resurrection assures justice for all.

Perhaps our imaginations are too weak? We can’t imagine what it will be like because these promises are extraordinary and completely beyond our experience, and so doubt creeps in.

Our world wants us to doubt, but hope is the antidote.

Don’t let it grow dim, for in Jesus the resurrection has already begun, and so your hope is secure.

Simon Chaplin.

Leaving the comfort of Australia, I arrived in the unfamiliar, foreign land of Fiji… a different place, climate, and people, but the same God.

Along with the 75 other students in the Youthworks Year 13 Gap Year program, we were given opportunities to learn how the Fijians live, eat, work and function as a society. We then learnt to apply this to our teaching, ministry, and relationships. 

From organised ministry at youth groups, churches and schools, to unplanned opportunities with workers, and shopkeepers, we shared the gospel with many people.

I quickly learnt that the mission was God’s, not ours, which meant that things often did not go as planned. Sometimes we were disappointed or confused, like when our homestay visit with a family was suddenly cancelled.

Other times we were overjoyed with surprise opportunities, like when we turned up to a local primary school in Suva, prepared for a single 15-minute assembly, only to leave having done 17, simultaneous classes.

My highlight was the ten days spent in the small village of Nakavu, where I was welcomed into the home of a beautiful family from the Methodist Church. We were totally immersed into the village life, living with the people and learning from them.

So much of the mission was unstructured, playing with the children at the stunning Navua River, forming friendships which provided many amazing chats. This has made me realise the importance of investing in children outside set hours of ministry events.

Most of all, I was challenged to be totally reliant on prayer, not only when things go wrong, or as a backup, but as the most important thing for effective ministry. 

I am so thankful for each and every one of you, for your generosity in prayer and financial support. Lives were changed in Fiji, and my life was certainly one of them.

Jemimah McNeill – Year 13 student