9-29-2015

Good Morning All!!

          Job 11:18; “And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.” 

    What difference does it make?  I had a young lady ask me about believing in Jesus.  She said, “I get that when I die I will go to heaven but I’m dead; what difference does it make now?”  At first blush, this sounds like a somewhat selfish subject but deep down she wondered if it was all about death.  What is it that faith in Jesus as your Savior means to your life today?  We can see as we look at a couple of stories in the Bible.

    Both of our stories are in John.  One is in John chapter 4 and one is in John chapter 8.  In each story we read about a woman.  In the first, we read of a woman who had been married a few times and now was just living with a man.  This woman didn’t even feel worthy enough to get married.  She didn’t feel she was valuable enough to marry.  In the second story we read of a woman caught in adultery.  She was drug out into the street as the Scribes and the Pharisees were looking to stone her.  In both cases Jesus spoke to the women and in each case he gave them hope.  He gave them the forgiveness which gave them hope.  In giving them this hope, he gave them a future that they were secure in.  They were given hope and that changed their life.

    Hope still changes lives.  Hope still gives people a secure feeling.  Hope gives life.  Jesus calls upon you and me, as his Church, to give hope.  And just like Jesus gave hope, we are to give hope.  This means that we look beyond the circumstances and to the person.  Jesus didn’t look at these women and tell them to clean up your act then come and talk to me.  He didn’t tell them to fix their lives and mend the trouble; Jesus was the mending; Jesus provided them with hope.  It does not matter why the person is in pain or suffering; what matters is the existence of pain and suffering in someone’s life.  There should be no test or pre-qualification, there should only be the preaching of Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Lord who gives hope.

   Hope can take different forms.  It might be as a baby sitter.  It might be as a mentor. It might be something as simple as a t-ball coach who spends time with a child whose home life is not so good.  Hope is the active expression of God’s mercy that exists in our life manifesting itself in the living of our lives. Hope gives us peace.  We have peace with God so in our hope we are secure because we know that we are his children.  We are the King’s heirs.  We are empowered by his Spirit to go out to the broken and the wounded of this world and to give them hope.  Don’t let fear or complacency hold you back.  Jesus gives you hope; share that same hope with someone else who needs it so desperately.

Lord Jesus, in you I have hope.  In you my future is secure in your eternal kingdom.  In you I have no fears or worries that I cannot defeat.  Lead me to the broken that I might give hope.  Lead me to the wounded that I might give comfort.  Lead me to the sorrowing that I might give consolation. You, O Lord, are our only hope.  Keep us safe in your loving arms.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret