We live in a world that is filled with so much chaos, so much hurt. Where can we find this hope eternal that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ? How can we have peace in a world filled with so many problems?
Look at the many problems that are happening around us today: the Ukraine situation, the loss of children and adults fleeing. So many people have lost their homes and their lives. What can we do to find peace in a world that treats others like that?
Over the last two years, we've had COVID; a loss of community, a loss of church schools and children having to do distant learning, not being able to participate in the sports and the activities that go along with being in school. The separation of being away from friends. How in the world can we ever feel hope again?
Well I'm going to tell you the one word that I would use, and I want to emphasize this word: Jesus, because Jesus is really what gives us hope. How can Jesus solve these areas of our life and bring hope to us? We find in Hebrews 10:20, we can enter through a new and living way that Jesus opened for us that leads through the curtain, and the curtain is Christ's body. So if we have Christ in our life, He will lead us through this world of sinfulness and hurt and bring hope to us—hope that can be eternal.
The gift of the Holy Spirit and the Father come along with this, because through Christ, we have eternal hope of a relationship to be one spirit with the Father and the Spirit. Ephesians 2:18 (NIV) reads, "For through him, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."
Getting through the different perils that all of us have had to deal with over the last two years, three years, some of us in the last 10 years, we have gone through experiences that we could not have made it through without feeling the Spirit within our hearts, knowing that the Holy Spirit was giving us our strength, knowing that God the Father loved us in an intense way that we felt like we were His prodigal son and He was running to us to throw His robe over each of us.
So how do we approach the throne of our Father? Well, I think it's simply the act of surrendering our lives to Jesus. So often we try to do it ourselves. So often we don't recognize that the more we try it on our own, the further despair grows within our heart. But if we read Hebrews 4:16 (NIV), it gives us a hint as to how we can put this despair to the side: "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
This is a promise that each of us have Jesus waiting there for us, and we can have the confidence that He is going to take care of the needs that we have in our lives. You look around and you say, "Wow, I'm by myself. Where is Jesus right now? Where is Christianity right now? Where is my church? Where is contentment? How can I ever feel hope again?"
And then when you see Jesus, the poem of "Footprints" puts it all in perspective. Jesus looks at his child, and He says, "My precious child, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I was carrying you as I have looked back in my life." In the moments where I felt the most alone, the lack of hope and peace and anxiousness in my life, I realized, indeed, there was only one set of footprints. But it wasn't mine. It was Jesus carrying me, and that's how I was able to get through each and every one of those experiences in my life.
Thank you, Jesus, for carrying us when we have so many things on our hearts that we need to give to You. Praise God for always being there to carry us in the most difficult times in our lives. So my challenge to you today is very simple. Trust in Jesus, because Jesus will give you eternal hope.
