Hope …..I was wanting to talk about HOPE today.
For many of us today Hope is something… fleeting,
something we “hold on to, but never comes. For others, it’s a Feeling, a motivation to feel good. You know we ALL we hope for stuff: Good weather, a good turnout,
crispy bacon, to win the big game, good results, a good grade, a clean MRI, We
keep our fingers crossed and “hope” that everything will go the way we want it
to.
I remember 15 years ago, I was in a time in my
life when I was really struggling. Financially,
emotionally and spiritually. And I
clearly remember walking to work at 4 am in the -25f cold and I would spend
cold, quiet this time doing 2
things. Avoiding Cars because the
sidewalks were not plowed (in the summer I Would be avoiding skunks) and fantasizing
about things in my life being different. A life without hardships. Winning the lottery. A raise or promotion. Our
own home with a yard I could mow. I created a world that I ‘wanted” to be in.
It was a great distraction. You see, I kept this “Hope” because I feared going
home every day. Going home to the
possibility that my power might be cut off again or I would have an eviction
notice on my door, again. Or maybe this
time, my family might have just packed up and left.
We use hope as a stop gap, as a replacement for
reality sometimes. A feeling factory to keep us from the real pain we sometimes
need to feel. Nowadays, for many of us, hope lacks a sense of certainty. It is
more like a wish—something that we want to happen but have no way of knowing
that it ultimately will.
Hope in our view, is fragile, Reality? Life doesn’t always turn out the way we want
it to. When life is disappointing, our
optimism is replaced by feelings of discouragement and hopelessness. Ultimately this path takes us to a place
where we LOSE hope and believe that there is nothing in which we can
confidently hope.
So let’s look at the first Christmas because this
was the landscape of the world at the time when Jesus entered it. For Israel,
there was little of anything to look forward to yet alone HOPE for.. The once
proud nation was now a under the thumb of the Roman Empire. The common person
lived under the crushing burdens of the rules and laws of the religious
establishment. Centuries before, they had been promised a deliverer who would
restore Israel to its former glory, but it had never happened.
And then…..Christmas…..True Hope!
Into this sense of hopelessness, was born our
true HOPE, our savior Jesus Christ. But
the hard fact of that first Christmas was that not many in the world at that
time realized the hope that had been introduced.
You see the restoration that was brought by the
sacrifice of his son for our sins was God’s Christmas Present to mankind. Jesus
is real hope. Hope for our redemption. Hope for a bright future—forever. Hope
for a return to fellowship and relationship with our heavenly father in daily
living. Hope that would enable us to forget the past and set our sights on
stuff that doesn’t disappoint. A hope that, because of Jesus, is a certainty and
not just another wish that will always eventually crash on the jagged shores of
reality.
What hope really is?
It’s a living hope. Promised to us by the
sacrifice of our lord Jesus for our sins.
It is certainly something we can count on because it is real. Hope is the Belief God has a plan for
you. The comfort of knowing if you look
to him, he will provide.
It is an Anchor
and not a looking glass.
It’s a confidence. It raises our chins and
holds our eyes higher. Hope looks forward.
It is the tool we use to breakthrough and tear
down doubt, and fear and hopelessness and replace it with Action. Hope looks forward.
It is the evidence we hold in argument against
ourselves when we try to convince ourselves that we can’t or we won’t or we
shouldn’t. Hope looks forward.
It is the filter through which we see our
options and our path. Hope looks forward
Psalm 42:5 MSG Why are you down in the dumps,
dear soul? Why
are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts
a smile on my face. He’s my God.
ISAIAH
40:31 MSG He energizes those
who get tired, gives
fresh strength to those who may have given up. For even young people tire and
drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait
upon God get fresh strength. They spread
their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind
1 Peter 1:3-5 MSG . What a God we have! And how fortunate we are
to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the
dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for,
including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful
watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life
healed and whole.
You see, God saw the need in his people…the
need for restoration, the need for Hope….and Jesus is hope. This Hope comes with Grace. It is the true meaning of Christmas. The true
gift of Jesus to mankind. To you….to me,
to EVERYONE. We don’t find it… it’s
there.
I picture it like this, imagine
Jesus on an infomercial. He is on the
screen with that headset mic telling us how we all need the grace he is
offering…It Slices, it dices it forgives and it redeems…….but wait there is
MORE.
That more is HOPE. It comes with grace, and its FREE, you don’t
even have to pay additional shipping and handling.
For most of our lives, Hope has always been
that glimmer, that “possibility”, that “if only” that, MAYBE……
But you see…..true Hope is tangible, it is
living and it lives in us. It guides us
and shows us where to go through Jesus if we just choose to accept HIS gift of grace. Always remember the original Christmas gift
of Jesus, his life, his word and what his life was given for. Hope moves us forward
So if you’re serious about living this new
resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things
over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed
with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going
on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.
HOPE moves us forward….you coming with me?
