“Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.” (Ether 12:4). Given the fact that there will be life after death thanks to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is easy to assume that when we read in the scriptures about promises of a “better world,” that this is some other world that we will inherit after we die and are once again resurrected. After all, one of the chief criticisms of Christianity is that we focus so much on trying to get into the next world that we fail to fully appreciate or participate in the world we already have. But God did not give us the capacity to hope merely so that we could white knuckle our way through this sorry world and hang on until we can trade it in for a better one. If we truly believe in God to the point that we have real hope for a better world, then we are not going to wait around for the Second Coming to make our hopes come to fruition. If we hope for a better world, then that means we are going to roll up our sleeves and make the world better. This world. Right now. A place at the right hand of God isn’t some special pedestal in Heaven. It’s going out and loving and serving our neighbors and hating and praying for our enemies and smiling at strangers and picking up litter and volunteering at shelters and visiting the sick in the hospitals. When we are abounding in good works and being led by the Spirit to glorify God with our righteous actions, then we are on the right hand of God. We are hastening the work and preparing the way of the Lord. Praying for the Lord to rain down fire and wrath and turn the whole world into glass and burn up all of the wickedness might feel emotionally satisfying if we have become frustrated with how bad this world has gotten, but whatever else it is, it is not hope for a better world. Jesus Christ takes that which is broken and makes it better. If we are to become like Him, then we need to be filled with His hope and take our broken world and do what we can to make it better.
