It has become increasingly clear to me that we live in a world that lacks hope. Just have a conversation with any young person and you will find that, even if they don't outright say it, it echoes in the spirit of what they say. One can make a case that every age can claim feeling like the world is ending. Certainly we have not seen the kind of pain and death previous generations can claim, even though we have had our share. One attribute, however, that seems to separate this generation from previous ones is a disturbing lack of hope.
How did this happen? Yes, the economy is hard and, especially in America, we find that most households require two incomes just to survive. This has led to a breakdown of the family that has produced broken people. Our scientists and teachers promote a nihilistic view of life that has produced generations of children who lack purpose and therefore lack hope in the future. Our politicians, pop culture and music icons promote fear and disunity and indoctrinate our children with ideologies that are harmful and oppressive. Just look at their lives which are a mess and most of them are addicted to drugs, sex, alcohol, fame and are unhappy and self destructive. They hide this from the world through social media posts and Instagram pictures that make it appear as if everything is alright even though it is not. These are the people we have given our children over to, since we are two busy chasing our own dreams to raise them ourselves. In truth, the world is heading quickly down a path that will lead to its destruction and people are feeling the effects of it.
Tomorrow is Easter, or for most of us Christians, Resurrection Sunday. For us it is the most important day. It is the day we celebrate Jesus resurrection. The day that death and hell were defeated. The day that hope was given back to the world. The day that says darkness has not won, but there is hope still. For God did not leave us in our sin, but He made a way for us. This is our eternal cry and this is the only thing that will bring hope back to the world.
Hebrews 6:17-20: 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
It is easy to allow the disappointments of life to strangle our hope and thereby our faith. But, if we don't have hope, how will those who are lost? If we do not display it, how will they see it? If we do not walk in it, how will they find it? It is time for us to stop allowing the troubles of life to steal our joy and our hope. It is time for us to shine. Time to shout from the mountain tops that Jesus is alive. That even the great terror that is death has been overcome. That the answer to all fear is here and we have it.
Jeremiah 9:11-14: 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
This is our hope and the world is crying out for it. They are desperate for it like a starving man is for food. This Jesus we have truly is the only hope the world has and they are waiting on us to bring it to them. To be lighthouses shining in the raging storm calling to safer shores. To be the voice of God crying out to those who have lost their way that home is closer then they know. To be the hands of Jesus stretching out to the downcast and forgotten showing them that they are loved and wanted. It is time for us to rise up and shout as the Psalmist did in 42:11 when he declared:
Why are you cast down, o my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God: For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
It is time for us to shout to anyone who will hear that JESUS IS ALIVE and there is now hope where there was only despair. To scream from the mountain tops the true hope of 1 Peter 1:3-5.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Let this Resurrection Sunday be the day that hope is rekindled in your own heart. The day that its very real changing power drives away the unforgiveness, failure, sin, despair, and lies that have beset you. Let today be the day hope eternal revives in you.
J