A Bright Tomorrow

A Bright Tomorrow, Jared Mellinger 

What do you worry about? What really gives you unease: illness and suffering? Your kids going astray? The state of the world? Aging and dying?

More specifically why do you worry about these things? We believe Jesus’ words: “which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Luke 12:25) We know God calls us to cast all our anxieties on him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). But sometimes we can’t figure out what this looks like in practice, and so tend to apathy, pretending all is fine or constantly worrying about what might happen.

In his new offering, A Bright Tomorrow, Jared Mellinger proposes that it is only when we fully grasp God’s sure and precious promises about the future that we are enabled to live in hope today:

“This book presents the message of Christian optimism, with the voice of confidence in Christ, grounded in his finished work in the past and in the promise of future grace.”

This is a book for the believer. Both the believer who worries about the future and the believer who avoids thinking about it. It is balm for the soul. It could certainly be helpful for those seeking to understanding why Christians have a confident hope, but it is not evangelistic. It assumes a scriptural, Christ-centred faith.

Some books are written for when you are in the midst of challenges and worries. Others help prepare you for those days to come. This might be one of the rare ones that does both. It is short, easy to read, and contains both promise and comfort.

In the first half of the book, Mellinger brings the reader on a journey of hope and promise. While acknowledging the challenges of facing the future with confidence (drawing on his experience of having a young child with cancer), he brings us back to Jesus and how our future is secure in him. He then directs us through the biblical truths that can ground us in times of worry – the future grace we are promised, the hope that we are given for the times ahead, the promises of God that never fail, and the love of Christ that we can never be separated from.

These chapters were edifying, Christ-focussed, soaked in scripture and very encouraging. As someone who tends to ‘catastrophise’ her way through potential future scenarios, I personally found the reminder that God will always provide for our future needs by providing future grace both comforting and reassuring:

“Grace is greater than we know, and we should learn to mine the riches of God’s future grace. The benefits of grace that you have experienced thus far are glorious, but are surpassed by the benefits yet to come (…) Grace is amazing, as John Newton observes, not only because it has brought us safe thus far, but also because it will lead us home.”

Listing God’s great promises that will not fail, Mellinger rightly asserts that solid knowledge of God’s character and acts will indeed bring hope:

“Every promise God has made should take a great deal of worry off our minds. Sound theology, including all that God has promised, is intended to make a difference in our lives. So many of the problems we face can be traced back to our failure to live as though the promises of God are true. If we lose sight of God’s promises, we will inevitably lose our sense of courage.”

The second half of the book turns to more specific areas of life that we tend to worry about. Starting with future trials and struggles, he reminds that “the worst that the waves of hardship can do is throw you against the Rock of Ages, work for your good, and prepare for you an eternal weight of glory”.

For parents who worry and are driven by “what ifs”, he challenges that:

“Anxious parenting is the result of being more aware of our weaknesses than God’s power, more aware of sin than grace, more aware of human folly than divine wisdom, more aware of rebellion than rescue, more aware of death than life.”

Jesus loves our children, he meets parents in their distress, he can do for our children what we cannot (save them), and gives us faith to do what he asks.

Rather than agonising about the state of the world, we can instead live realistically, understanding that the brokenness of sin seeps into every area of life on earth. We continue in social engagement yet hang on to the promises of a perfect world one day – with love, peace, justice, beauty, abundance, safety, health and praise. “We know the world is not as it should be, and so we pray, lament, create beauty, do good, and care for the needy as acts of hope-filled protest, witnessing to a kingdom that is sure to come.”

Finally turning to aging well and facing death with confidence, we can continue to see the beauty of God at work in the lives of those around us:

“What is aging to us? Aging is the accumulation of more stories of the faithfulness of God. It is a visible display of God’s determination to love and care for his own.”

Perhaps in summary it seems like the answers are pat at points. But that was never the feeling reading it. Mellinger dwells in the word of God, and shows us the confidence we can have in his promises, through hope in Christ and in the grace to come. All of it is anchored in the character of God, not our own strength, giving us assurance of the bright future that awaits:

“The Promise-Keeper has spoken. His grace and goodness will follow us. Fear and anxiety are behind us. The glory of heaven is in our eyes. The kingdom will be consummated. Death will be defeated. Eternal comfort and good hope belong to us by grace.”