A Living Hope In A Dying World

 

1 Peter 1:3-9

Faith Proven Is Greater Worth than Gold

Life nowadays is often filled with worrisome issues. The whole world is shrouded in pandemic, economic instability, upheavals of society, etc. Most of us feel deprived of joy and peace and hope in our hearts as we face all these issues.

Do you have hope for the future? God our Father is the God who gives us a living hope.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Men are anxious and restless because the world has offered us things that could perish, spoil or fade. No good things in the world are permanent in nature. Many have put their hope in properties, shares, gold, etc., and some put their hope on certain people or even certain political systems. Yet they will soon discover that all these are floating and fleeting and changeable, and can even turn out to be deceptive lies!

In fact, all we have received in this world carried with them this very nature, and hence, what we have received and hoped for will be shaken with fluctuations in economy or ups and downs in commodity prices. Because of this, it is hard for us to enjoy real peace, and it is equally hard for us to be worry-free.

Nothing on this earth lasts eternally, and all things are merely temporal and changeable. Therefore, this world could not give us real peace. But there is one and only unchangeable, true and faithful being in this changing world, and He is our God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We can anchor on Him in our journey of life.

Scripture tells us that God enables us to have a living hope, and it also tells us that because of this living hope, we would live joyously in this anxious and restless world.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

The Bible tells us clearly that we are bound to have various trials as we live in this world, and we might feel sad temporarily. Trials like losing loved ones, sickness, failure of career and business, persecution and so on could cause us to experience issues of anxiety, confusion and restlessness.

Nevertheless, we can live joyously as we carry with us this living hope that gives us hope even when we encounter sadness and sorrow on earth. This joy is more than the joy in our spirits. It is a joy that enables us to leap and rejoice.

In reality, all these trials are meant to mature or refine us in all aspects, especially in our faith and our knowledge of God. Though the world is full of anxieties, confusion and restlessness, our relationship with our Lord will not be the same again after we have gone through all these trials.

The Lord Jesus Christ has brought us such a hope, and it is the hope that is full of vitality and life energy. We can experience it right now. This is a very real and living hope.

Christ is our hope. When Christ was born, a group of shepherds were tending their sheep at night. These shepherds were of no different from the rest of the world, and they too had anxieties and needs in their lives. However, it was in the darkness of that night that the glorious light of the Lord shone on them, and angels who appeared and announced to them the good tidings of the birth of the Savior.

We are like living in the darkness of the night. However, the glorious light of the Lord Jesus has shone on us, and it drives away the darkness. It turns a new page in our lives, and gives us hope.

This hope is the salvation of Christ, and it enables us to be reconciled with God, and that we are able to glorify God by becoming someone who pleases Him, so that the peace of the Lord shall come upon us.

Though the world is full of anxieties and restlessness, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and His light had penetrated the darkness of our nights, and it shone forth in our hearts, removing the darkness in it so that we could have real peace and joy. The Lord Jesus gives us this life and hope, and enough grace to live everyday lives.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

We will experience God’s presence in the process of anxiety and restlessness, and our anxiety will be turned into joy, and our restlessness will cease. It enables us to move forward with more hope and faith.

It is said in the scripture, that, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

We are confident towards our future, because we trust that the Lord Jesus is with us, and He will give us hope.

Recently I read a news that talked about an American man with his wife and his three children. The driving license of this man had expired but he had no money to renew it. So, he couldn’t go on with his daily life without driving his car.

One day, he was spotted by a policeman when he was driving his car. He explained to the policeman that he was jobless, and he had many unpaid bills, and he could not even afford to pay his driving license.

The policeman gave him a summon and left. He opened it, and instead of finding a summon, he found a one hundred note in it. He was so touched that he cried out loudly. His family members came to know about this, and they wrote a letter to the police station to give his compliment to this policeman.

The policeman said that it was his obligation to do so because the man had a more urgent need than himself. Later, this man found a job and he solved the financial problem in his family.

Someone interviewed him, and he said, “When I was in my most difficult time, someone, who was a policeman, gave me not a summon, but a sum of money. This incident instilled hope and joy in my life once again before God.”

In fact, God favored him, and His love came upon him through a policeman, and that caused his life to be renewed. Our Lord is true and living, and He will lead us forward, and His presence is with us.

Let’s get hold of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our real hope. Not only will we receive praise, glory and honor when He is revealed, but He will care for us and lead us through our life journey on this earth.

Our hearts shall rejoice and be glad whenever we think of all these things, for our God is true and living, and He is the God who gives us real hope, so that we have confidence to face today and tomorrow.

Thanks be to our God the Father, for He loves us and gives Jesus to us. Jesus is our real hope, and He enables us to receive peace and joy, and causes us to have an abundant life. Though we have anxieties and sadness for a while, but we have hope in Christ. Hence, we are confident of tomorrow.

What we hope for is not going to perish, spoil or fade, it is an eternal and true inheritance laying in store for us. Let’s receive new grace, strength and joy daily, and experience God as the true, faithful, almighty and unchanging Lord of life.