Good Morning All,
“The situation is hopeless.” There is probably no more painful message
than this. Whether it is a light
situation like a basketball game where the one team is behind by 10 points with
25 seconds to play or a serious situation that involves life and death; this
message brings about discomfort and pain.
Sometimes, this message comes late like when the firefighters were
climbing the stairs in the World Trade Center after the 9/11terrorist
attacks. When they were told to get out
that the situation was hopeless; it was already too late. A few years ago, we came upon an
accident. We began to perform CPR until
the ambulance showed up. It was apparent
that the man was dead, but the deputy refused to quit giving CPR. The situation was hopeless, but he refused to
accept it.
There are times when we face events that
seem hopeless. A car accident, where the
vehicle sinks into some water and after a few minutes of being submerged; the
situation is hopeless and those on shore watch, worry, fear then despair. When you watch someone who has cancer and
they begin to fade away, first losing a lot of weight, then the color of their
skin goes ashen, they can’t get around very well and soon they are bedridden;
the situation is hopeless. We usually
don’t see situations as hopeless unless death is involved. If we suffer estrangement from a friend or a
loved one, we figure, eventually, we’ll fix it but when that someone dies, the
situation is hopeless. Hope is about
life; hopelessness is about the end of life.
Once sin entered the world so did death and
so did hopelessness. Once the enormity
of the cost of their sin began to sink in, Adam and Eve experienced
hopelessness. Their perfect world was no
more. They knew pain, sorrow, suffering
and hopelessness. So, God gave them
hope, hope for life. He told them that
he would send one to destroy the devil and death. This One would redeem them and give them
life. It was the same promise that God
made to his people throughout the Old Testament. It was a promise that held out hope. It held out hope that death and the devil
would never be the final victor. It was
a promise that said those who believed and trusted in that promise would live
forever.
That promise was kept on a hill called
Calvary. It was there that Jesus
defeated the devil and death. It was
there that the promise was completed, and we only have to wait for the final
few ticks of the clock to run out and the victory is completely ours. Death no longer has hold of us; it is but a
door for us. No matter what life throws
at us, it can never take away the victory that Christ gives us. We will always have hope; we will always have
life. This is the promise that God has
made and kept to us. We always have
hope.
Father, in you
there is life. You give us hope. Guide us to
always rely on your delivered promise.
Teach us to always hope in you.
Be with those who feel they have no hope. Open the darkness so the light of your truth
may enter. In the precious name of Jesus
we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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