Finding hope

I have heard it said, “Man can live about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air — but only one second without hope.” I am not sure if all the time frames are absolutes, but I do know that I need hope more than I need food, water or air if I want to do more than simply survive. Without a reason or purpose to live, we find our lives unmoored and adrift. As I shared Sunday, Blaise Pascal told of a God-shaped void in every heart. Look into your past and into the lives of those around you and see the myriad of ways people have tried to fill that void. Yet everything attempted eventually fails because they cannot take the place of God, and cannot fill the space made only for Him. Augustine once said, “You (God) have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Our hope, reason and purpose in life anchored in the promises, Person, and worship of our Creator anchors us despite all the storms that roil through our lives.

Hope is by definition a trust in the thing or person we hope in day by day. My trust in governments (look at any country and see the upheaval in our lifetimes), finances (just think back to 2008 or look at your electric or food bill versus two years ago), possessions (think Hurricane Ian for those of us here), or health (the calendar always wins eventually) has proven to be falsely placed time and time again. My trust, and thereby hope, in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him; and He will direct your paths“) has never once proven the least bit faulty. This Christmas season we are once again reminded that all the prophecies about the First Advent, Coming of Christ, happened exactly as God foretold. “The people who had walked in darkness have seen a great light . . .” (Isaiah 9:2) And that Light still shines in the dark, the dark of sin calling us to salvation; in the dark of hurt, depression and grief calling us to come to Him, all who are in need of comfort and healing. In whatever dark you find yourself, the Light of Jesus calls you come to Him and find hope.

As the closing video shared on Sunday, the birth of Christ splits history and it will never be the same. John 1:14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” God has come for and to us. (Immanuel = God with us.) The first Advent makes clear that we all stand on one side of the line — either trusting and hoping in Christ or not trusting or hoping Christ. The next act on the calendar of human history is the Second Advent, the return of Christ when the consequences of where you stand in regard to the line of trusting and hoping will determine your eternity. May this Christ find you worshipping, trusting and hoping in the Son of God sent to the world to redeem us from our sin.

Pressing on…

Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor