You might think that this is the point where I might try and write something clever and inspiring to help keep you motivated and encouraged in your walk with Jesus. I have no such thing, but what I do have is a challenge. A challenge that, if you follow through, will encourage you.
In the series Green Lantern there are several groups of colored lanterns. One group is called the Blue Lanterns. Their credo says, “In fearful day, in raging night, with strong hearts full, our souls ignite, when all seems lost in the War of Light, look to the stars--For HOPE burns bright!” The blue lanterns carry hope to all they meet with the greeting, “All will be well.”
Of all the Lantern Corps’, the Blue Lanterns are my favorite. According to the Bible, as followers of Christ, we are Blue Lanterns! In Psalm 31:24 we read, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (NIV). Interesting that it sounds a lot like the Blue Lanterns greeting. Surely our hope doesn’t come from a blue ring, and we certainly don’t contain the power to reignite stars like these fictional characters. Yet, in the same way that a Blue Lantern wears a blue ring to give him power, we wear the gift of the Holy Spirit to give us power when we become disciples of Jesus. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and our relationship with God that we have hope, not only for a better life NOW, but also into ETERNITY!
What is really great about the Blue Lanterns is that they have this hope and they share it! They search the universe looking for ways to bring hope to people. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that what made him so bold in his pursuit of Christ was the hope he had found himself in Christ (3:12). Shouldn’t we be as bold as Paul? Don’t we have the same hope he did? Shouldn’t we too be ready to risk imprisonment and torture and loss? Let me bring it closer to home… shouldn’t we be willing to loose friends, popularity, our stuff, our jobs, money, our families, or church traditions for the sake of bringing hope to those who don’t have it
? Think back to the movie we saw To Save A Life. There are people all around you who have no hope, and it may be, that YOU are the one who is supposed to show them that hope!
