“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.”
Matthew 5:11-12 (NET)
When Jesus pronounces blessings on those who embody the beatitudes, he renews his listeners’ imaginations about what it means to be a new humanity, formed in King Jesus, living in this world and awaiting his victorious return. What I find so compelling is that every beatitude is infused with hope. I think that hope is the secret sauce of faithful presence in a broken, dark world – a world God intends to redeem through his redeemed image bearers. These new people, though they may face persecution and pain in this world because of their commitment to Christ, are promised an inheritance, comfort, the satisfaction of their hunger and thirst for justice, mercy, family, peace, and a place of belonging in the new creation. I am reminded of a profound insight of C. S. Lewis:
The Christian says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.” If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.[1]
Lewis is not saying that life in this world doesn’t matter, so we should only concern ourselves with what happens to us after we die. If that were true, Jesus’ beatitudes and the Sermon that follows from them (Matt. 5-7) would be completely irrelevant to our discipleship to him. Instead, Lewis affirms that in Christ we belong to a new Kingdom and are called to live out our allegiance to its King in a world that often frustrates our desires and breaks our hearts. Hope is the sustaining, animating, and empowering work of the Holy Spirit in the life of God’s people as they sojourn through this wilderness.
The apostle Paul was eager to encourage the budding church in Colossae with the same message. The Colossian believers were beginning to tie syncretistic threads into their Christian faith, blending the observance of Jewish festivals and ritual law practices with pagan mysticism and spiritual elitism into an “empty, deceitful philosophy” (Col. 2:8). The Colossian heresy disparaged the physical world and urged believers to seek a higher, heavenly wisdom through angels, ascetic practices, and secret knowledge, thereby undermining the full sufficiency of Christ. But with a cheeky reframing, Paul uses this heresy’s own language against it to implore the Colossian church to live in this world as people “hidden with Christ in God:”
Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. (Col. 3:1-4)
Paul then urges the believers to put to death what belongs to their earthly nature, all those things that spoil, taint, divide, and destroy a flourishing life here on earth. Instead, he instructs them to clothe themselves with the life of Jesus, the “new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it” (Col. 3:10).
In the ancient world, images were not ethereal, abstract concepts. They were visible, tangible representations to be reckoned with. When kings conquered new lands, the first thing they did was set up images of themselves throughout the newly acquired territory so that its inhabitants would know unmistakably who ruled and to whom they owed allegiance and subservience. To the citizens of that kingdom, those images were beacons of hope that their future was secure, their way of life preserved, and their honor and well-being generously provided for by their king. As long as people could see those images, they knew that the kingdom was secure.
What happens when an image of a new king is established in territory already claimed by another king? War and resistance! Jesus says that his people will be insulted, persecuted, maligned, and falsely accused because of Jesus, the image of the invisible God. But those who endure to the end will be rewarded.
Christian leadership is nothing without such hope. Sometimes you lead stiff-necked people through a dry and weary wilderness. Sometimes you are betrayed and rejected by the very ones you love and lead. Sometimes you get crucified. But “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:13-16). So keep hope! King Jesus has won the victory, so your sacrifice is not in vain. Anchor your soul in his safekeeping love. And your hope will be rewarded.
The following meditations can help you nurture hopefulness as a Christian leader, even in the midst of resistance and even opposition. Make a regular habit of reflecting and engaging in these truths:
Rehearse the promises of Jesus in the Beatitudes. Hope begins by remembering that persecution, pain, and misunderstanding do not have the last word. Jesus promises inheritance, comfort, mercy, and belonging to those who follow ihm faithfully.
Let your imagination be renewed by Christ’s kingdom. Hope grows when leaders allow Jesus to reshape how they see the world, not as a place of despair, but as a place God intends to redeem through His people.
Anchor your desires in the world to come while living faithfully in this one. Leaders cultivate hope by acknowledging that some longings will only be fulfilled in the new creation, yet those longings energize faithful presence now.
Resist philosophies that diminish Christ’s sufficiency. Hope is strengthened when leaders refuse to seek security in lesser spiritual systems—ritualism, mysticism, elitism—and instead cling to Christ alone.
Live as one whose life is “hidden with Christ in God.” Hope flourishes when leaders remember that their identity and future are secure in Christ, regardless of earthly instability.
Put to death what destroys flourishing and clothe yourself with Christ. Hope is not passive; it is practiced through daily repentance and the intentional adoption of Christlike virtues.
Embrace your calling as a visible image-bearer of the King. Leaders cultivate hope by remembering that their lives are meant to be tangible signs of Christ’s reign, embodied reminders that the kingdom is secure.
Expect resistance and persevere through it. Hope grows when leaders interpret opposition not as failure but as evidence that Christ’s image is taking root in contested territory.
Practice faithful presence as salt and light. Hope is enacted through small, steady acts of goodness that point others to the Father’s glory.
Root your leadership in the victory and safekeeping love of King Jesus. Hope is sustained by remembering that Christ has already won, and therefore no sacrifice made in His name is wasted.
[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 136.
