The Hope of Christ
Christmas 2018 is behind us and before us is 2019. We have spent weeks preparing for Christmas. Preparations for parties, gift exchanges, Christmas programs, and the perfect Christmas morning. My favorite is listening to my grandchildren singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Yes, in the middle of all the holiday rush, I hope you have made time for Jesus. As we go into 2019, I hope you are placing your hope in Jesus Christ.
In 2019, we look forward to the new arrivals of grandchildren, the anticipation of weddings, the celebrations of graduations and milestones in our lives. We all have friends battling cancer, heart problems, surgeries, or emotional issues. With each new morning, we don't know what will come. Will it be rejoicing or grief? We don't know. However, there is one constant, Jesus Christ.
As I write this, my thoughts go to New Year's Eve parties. I know some young people who look forward to drinking to the point of being totally drunk. They don't anticipate the dangers of too much alcohol in the body. The damage to the liver or brain cells. They anticipate the joy of getting to such a state of no control. I don't get it. I will be praying for them. I know; they think it is funny that I pray for them. I do. I pray that I will be able to show them God's love, and the great hope they can find by letting Jesus into their lives.
This is my desire for 2019 that doors will be open and more will find eternal hope in Jesus Christ. In John 6:26, Jesus says, "This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent." God sent Jesus. "For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." (6:33) The Jews and many of his followers did not understand the message Jesus gave them in John 6. Oh! Some did understand after Jesus was crucified, buried, and arose from the dead. You see, Jesus came to give life, and he had to shed his blood as a sacrifice for all the sins of the world. Yes, even the sins we commit today. There is hope to be free of all our sins through repentance and faith in God. There is hope in Christ where we can become free of the burdens of addictions.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life." John 6:47
So, in 2019, let us all give each day to God and start each day opening our hearts to him knowing that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to give us salvation. This is the Hope of Christ.
"For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:24-28
In 2019, we look forward to the new arrivals of grandchildren, the anticipation of weddings, the celebrations of graduations and milestones in our lives. We all have friends battling cancer, heart problems, surgeries, or emotional issues. With each new morning, we don't know what will come. Will it be rejoicing or grief? We don't know. However, there is one constant, Jesus Christ.
As I write this, my thoughts go to New Year's Eve parties. I know some young people who look forward to drinking to the point of being totally drunk. They don't anticipate the dangers of too much alcohol in the body. The damage to the liver or brain cells. They anticipate the joy of getting to such a state of no control. I don't get it. I will be praying for them. I know; they think it is funny that I pray for them. I do. I pray that I will be able to show them God's love, and the great hope they can find by letting Jesus into their lives.
This is my desire for 2019 that doors will be open and more will find eternal hope in Jesus Christ. In John 6:26, Jesus says, "This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent." God sent Jesus. "For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." (6:33) The Jews and many of his followers did not understand the message Jesus gave them in John 6. Oh! Some did understand after Jesus was crucified, buried, and arose from the dead. You see, Jesus came to give life, and he had to shed his blood as a sacrifice for all the sins of the world. Yes, even the sins we commit today. There is hope to be free of all our sins through repentance and faith in God. There is hope in Christ where we can become free of the burdens of addictions.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life." John 6:47
So, in 2019, let us all give each day to God and start each day opening our hearts to him knowing that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to give us salvation. This is the Hope of Christ.
"For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:24-28
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