Before you decide to start worrying about me, suggesting counseling, or sending an S.O.S. down the old prayer chain -- just hear me out.  I realize that what I'm about to write may sound a bit disheartening -- and even alarming... But I actually mean it as quite the opposite.  As strange as it may sound, I've recently been reassured by (or at least in spite of) the darkness swallowing up our world.

I mean, think about it.  As you look around you, wouldn't you agree that discouragement abounds?  Darkness prevails... The world is winning... All around me, I see seeds of faith and hope and love getting choked out and swallowed up by figurative weeds, birds, dehydration, and so on...  My ministry often challenges me with its lack of momentum, its lack of results, its lack of that inexplicable spark of life.  I try to keep waiting, but I grow impatient and despairing.  I'm confronted with questions like:  "Can this be right?"  "Am I really on the winning team (the Church, the Body of Christ, the people of God)?"  "Aren't I promised an abundant life?  A life of fruitfulness?  The desires of my heart?"  "So what's going on here?"

Over the last several days, I've been thinking about this and praying about this a lot (and for whatever reason, it seems that other people around me have been wondering about this, too)... And oddly, unexpectedly, I've felt like God has been telling me:  "Actually, the current dismal and declining state of the world is exactly how I've told you it would be.  You're living after Eden.  You're waiting for the Restoration of all things.  You're in that awkward in-between period of history -- and as much as I'm pained by the brokenness of my Creation, the Time has not yet come.  You must wait patiently..."

And then, I'm reminded of the Scriptures.  Consider the following:

• The Curse (Genesis 3:14-24) - A few choice phrases pulled from the text say it all:  "painful toil... thorns and thistles... sweating in futility until we return to dust..." That's life after Eden.
• A Mantra of Meaninglessness (Ecclesiastes 1-2) - The whole book of Ecclesiastes is based around themes of labor... toiling... generation after generation... nothing new... We're confronted with the impossibility of leaving a real legacy... Chapter 2, verses 22 and 23 poignantly describe the dilemma:  "What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?  All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest..."  This is what we're dealing with in this world...
• Broad Path to Destruction / Narrow Path to Life (Matthew 7:13-14) - This description of a world filled with spiritual travelers is heart-breaking to realize... but it's an inescapable truth.
• The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) - Three-quarters of the "seeds" of the gospel -- including some of those which have already sprouted -- are taken out before they have a chance to really grow and reach full maturity... Yikes!  It's also interesting to note that the Parable of the Sower is immediately followed by the Parable of the Weeds (vv. 24-30).  It's clear to see that our spiritual crops have been (and are continually being) sabotaged by a devious enemy.
• 90 Percent Ingratitude (Luke 17:11-19) - Jesus himself faced rather grim statistics in ministry!
• Following Christ = Carrying the Cross (Mark 8:34-38) - A life of discipleship involves losing our lives... denying ourselves... and coming out of this life with nothing but our souls.
• The Seven Churches (Revelation 2-3) - These letters to the Seven Churches are perhaps the most powerful reminder for me that the Christian life is one of challenge and difficulty.  Every single church is faced with hardships and offered encouragement only for perseverance... enduring hardships... suffering through afflictions and poverty... prison... persecution... being pushed to the point of death... living where Satan has his throne... perseverance (did I mention that one already?)... barely surviving, about to die... being left with little strength... These churches at the end of the world are universally challenged, languishing in very difficult circumstances.  Yet they're not challenged with some trite prosperity gospel.  They're told to persevere... hold on... overcome.  No change in circumstances is promised...

The fact of the matter is that the world is wasting away!  Stories of redemption and renewal -- those things that we celebrate in prayer letters and public testimonies -- are the exception (occurring 1% to 10% of the time, according to the wisdom of the Bible), not the rule!  We're not outside of God's will if we're experiencing hardships and discouraging circumstances!

And yet, hardship is not the end of the story.  Our ultimate hope is in the Resurrection and the Life that will be revealed at the end of the world!  Scripture offers us an unconventional hope:

• 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, "We do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
• And John 16:33 quotes Jesus, saying "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!"

And in the meantime, we can enjoy small, short seasons of renewal.  The annual cycle of summer, fall, winter, spring is a reminder of this (Ecclesiastes 3).  The daily cycles of darkness and light, too, are a reminder of this (Psalm 30:5).  And as long as we're part of a community of fellow strugglers, fellow sufferers, fellow believers -- we can encourage each other to persevere (Hebrews 10:23-25), even in the midst of our mindfulness of the futility of this world...

Is this a message of foolishness?  Yes (1 Corinthians 1:18).  Can it be sad and scary and sobering?  Yes.  But am I sad?  Not most of the time.  Am I scared?  Yeah, a little bit -- but not to the point of paralysis.  Am I sobered?  Definitely -- but I wouldn't say that's such a bad thing.  Would you?