A LIVING HOPE
14th Aug 2019
The birthright of every believer is that we have a sure and certain hope that God has His hand upon our lives for good, and we know that after this life we will spend eternity with Him. We are living in a world where hopelessness is invading the lives of so many, particularly young people.
The Bible is full of words of hope. At the time the Israelites had spent 70 years in captivity, the despair and despondency had reached epic levels, when God spoke, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
God’s heart toward all His children has not changed. When Peter is writing to the Jewish believers he states, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope.” (1 Peter 1:3) Paul’s message to Titus contains words with a similar dynamic, he speaks of the believers, “waiting for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13) The writer to the Hebrews has the same message, “We have this hope and as anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:19)
This hope was very evident as our family joined together to give thanks for the life of my nephew, who has left us too soon. As a large number came together from around the world, there was natural sadness, but not a trace of despair. The living hope Jesus gives filled the church where we gathered, and poured comfort on those sorrowing.
A brother had written a very moving poem, here is how the piece ended. “May we glimpse too the golden sands of your ‘far-off sunlit shore’ and, unseeing, know you are not gone, you have simply gone before.”
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
by Charles Sibthorpe
