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2000-09-21 - Hope in a Dark Time
Rom 8:10-11 And if Christ is in you, though the body
is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life
to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. (NAS)
There have been several deaths in the families of friends and co-workers
around me lately. One man lost his father after a long illness. Another lost
her mother suddenly and unexpectedly. The elderly mother of the CEO of my
company is very frail and not expected to live to the end of the year. The
common thread in all these cases is the human mortality.
If we look at death from a physical perspective, it would be very easy to
understand that lives end at the point of death. If we deny faith and things
that we can not see and touch, then the grave is the end. All our secrets
and failures would quietly fade from the scene as we decayed and merged with
the elements.
We would quietly escape from our wrongs. If we managed to keep something
a secret, an affair or a theft, it would go unnoted. If death is the end,
then mankind is truly the top of the evolutionary heap and we are the measure
of all things. There is no one else to be accountable to for our actions.
Giving can be done when it is a convenient tax deduction, instead of looking
for someone in need. The motivation to be 'good' must come from within ourselves,
where Jesus told us that the heart is wicked and no one could know the depth
of that wickedness.
It strikes me as a very proud and arrogant statement for any species or race
to make. It is one thing to believe that you could be better than anyone
else. But it is the height of hubris to speak it as proven fact when the
universe lies unexplored, and in the face of the myriad of things that we
still do not understand around us.
1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled
and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who
are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time. ( NAS)
Through the eyes of faith, we see the power of life that persists beyond
this mortal body. Jesus promised the thief on the cross next to Him that
the common thief, because of his faith, would be with Christ that day in
paradise. The accountability, balances of good and bad that so many fear
if God is real, dissolve in the face of His forgiveness. Yes, there will
be accountability, but for the believer in Christ, this accountability will
not be unto the second death - eternal punishment. The promise to all who
have the trembling faith of the thief on the cross have the promise of eternal
life. The common thread in these cases is eternal.
All of us will live forever, for good or for ill. There is no
comforting curtain of death to hide us from God. When death is faced
with faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, there is no need to hide from God.
The time when we will meet Him face to face is a time to look forward to
with anticipation and expectation.
What view of life would you want to carry to these people who have just lost
loved ones? This is a time when their own mortality is very clear to them.
It is a time when they ask questions like, "Is there more than this life?"
"Where is my friend?" "What will happen to me when I die?" Our
hope is not amaybe this will happen hope. It is hope that
anticipates something that will happen and we wait eagerly to
see that hope. It is a blazing, white-hot star in the stark, black sky of
despair. A card, a note or a kind word covered in prayer could open
a door for a conversation where questions can be asked. Our faith and the
eternal hope that we have are two of the treasures that Jesus has placed
in us to give to the world. There is hope and power for the seeker if we
will share it with them.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it
has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears,
we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He
is. (NAS)
Lord Jesus - we hold Your treasure, not made of stone,
but made of faith and hope. In these very dark times we can be lights that
lead others home to You. Give us the courage to burn brightly for You.
Amen.
Grace & Peace,
Mike
jmhoskins@gmail.com
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