Don’t Put Your Hope in Susan Boyle

Altha and I went to see the movie “Blind Side” this weekend. As I reflected on its box office success ($150 million in the U.S. so far), I recognized this "Cinderella" story is just what hope-deprived people are needing right now. We want something/someone to believe in. Perhaps one of the warmest “feel-good” stories of this last year was that of Susan Boyle, a matronly middle-aged Scottish woman who rose to international stardom from her audacious performance on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

This last decade was full of the moral failures of those we looked up to—a decade of disappointment in our heroes and celebrities, of cover-up and deceit. From politicians to pastors, pop celebrities to sports champions, the media reveled in scandal and sensation, leaving many disillusioned.

People invested in this world can easily fall into despair. And so will we unless we keep a right perspective. Despair results whenever we replace God with someone else. Of course we don’t do it intentionally, but our disappointment reveals the truth about whom and what we are invested in.

Hope is one of the godly virtues (1 Cor. 13:13): it is a looking forward to eternity. It is not wishful thinking, but finds its substance in the reality of unseen things (Heb. 11:1). The Bible is replete with stories of men and women who left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. And because they put their hope in God they were not disappointed (Psalm 43:5; Romans 5:5). If you were disappointed to the point of despair this last year, maybe your ‘hope’ was in the wrong place.