“I Was Misinformed”
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My favorite line in my favorite movie — the 1942 classic Casablanca — comes when Captain Renault asks Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick, why he came to Casablanca.
"I came to Casablanca for the waters," says Rick.
"Waters?! We're in a DESERT!" replies Captain Renault.
And in a classic Bogey deadpan, Rick says, "I was misinformed."
Imagine making that move only to find out that you put your trust in false information. Can you relate? Ever followed bad data or made a decision with no data at all?
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope … we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
If we're uninformed, we'll grieve like people "who have no hope." Folks have obscured, complicated, and twisted the Bible's teaching about the end, leaving people uninformed. The message gets changed so much that we don't see why it matters. Paul wanted to strengthen Christians with the truth that Christ has altered the nature of death and will someday split the sky in glory. Many don't seem to know what our hope is — maybe no one has informed them. Others have built their expectations on something other than the Scripture's explanation of the end.
We have to be informed — with accurate INFORMation — to think, feel, and act like a hope-filled disciple.
"There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call" (Eph. 4:4).
One of the church's distinctive, uniting characteristics is that we have hope, and hope for the same thing! We look forward to God's completion of all things. But rather than "one hope," when we look closely at the mass of people professing Christianity, we find lots of different hopes. Like Rick, they're misinformed.
Lastly, some know the facts but have lost touch with their power. They "live in the now," without much thought about the future. It's a pleasant daydream rather than fixed confidence that makes sense of their lives.
Rick came for waters and found a desert. But we come from "... a dry and weary land where there is no water" thirsting for the Lord (Psalm 63:1). The stakes could not be higher, and we do not want anyone to be uninformed, as we seek "a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:14).
