I would like to share with you some hope this holiday season. Hope may not be the first word that pops into your mind while you are out shopping for Christmas gifts, trying to remember why you subject yourself to retail stores, long lines, and hours of gift wrapping. While giving is such an important and wonderful part of the holidays, there is a deeper meaning behind why this time of year is so special. Among other reasons, it is a time when we can remember and rejoice in where our hope comes from.
Hope can be a very slippery concept. You can fight to hold on to it and when you finally do manage to catch it your life is filled with light for a time, but then it can slip out of your grasp and be quickly replaced by darkness. As we move through the year trying to achieve goals and hold onto hope, our lives can often feel like a roller coaster of highs and lows; however, if we can keep our arms and legs inside the vehicle long enough to avoid major injury, we make it to the month of December. A month where frosty decorations come out, jolly music is played on the radio, and Floridians are forced to imagine what a white Christmas might look like. It is a month that contains a special day, one that means so much to so many people.
For just a moment, before the present wrapping and merrymaking begins, pause and ask yourself how many days over the past year you lived with hope in your heart. Maybe your year was full of wins, a new job or a new relationship, or maybe it full of losses, a layoff or a departed loved one. Between picking up kids from school, fighting for that promotion, and trying to stay in shape, hope may have been one of the last things you thought about. Even so, it may be one of the most important.
In the book of Romans, chapter 15 verse 13, it reads, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” From this verse we can learn several things: that God is the embodiment of hope, he wishes for those who trust in Him to be overflowing with that hope, and hope is given to us by the Holy Spirit. Overflowing does not mean that you are given just enough to get by. It means that you have more than you can contain and are able to turn and offer it to someone else.
The first book of Peter, chapter 1 verses 3-6, teaches us more about this kind of hope we are meant to have and where it comes from, “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, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”
Our hope is alive! It lives in Jesus Christ who walks alongside those who accept him as their Lord. I believe that Jesus wants you to live a fulfilled life, full of hope. Every year, Christmas reminds me of the good news that Jesus chose to come into this world, simply to be a sacrifice and show his love for every human being on the planet. That kind of crazy love as well as the promises he shared give me the hope I need to thrive throughout the year.
Romans, chapter 5 verse 3B: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Hope can be a very slippery concept. You can fight to hold on to it and when you finally do manage to catch it your life is filled with light for a time, but then it can slip out of your grasp and be quickly replaced by darkness. As we move through the year trying to achieve goals and hold onto hope, our lives can often feel like a roller coaster of highs and lows; however, if we can keep our arms and legs inside the vehicle long enough to avoid major injury, we make it to the month of December. A month where frosty decorations come out, jolly music is played on the radio, and Floridians are forced to imagine what a white Christmas might look like. It is a month that contains a special day, one that means so much to so many people.
For just a moment, before the present wrapping and merrymaking begins, pause and ask yourself how many days over the past year you lived with hope in your heart. Maybe your year was full of wins, a new job or a new relationship, or maybe it full of losses, a layoff or a departed loved one. Between picking up kids from school, fighting for that promotion, and trying to stay in shape, hope may have been one of the last things you thought about. Even so, it may be one of the most important.
In the book of Romans, chapter 15 verse 13, it reads, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” From this verse we can learn several things: that God is the embodiment of hope, he wishes for those who trust in Him to be overflowing with that hope, and hope is given to us by the Holy Spirit. Overflowing does not mean that you are given just enough to get by. It means that you have more than you can contain and are able to turn and offer it to someone else.
The first book of Peter, chapter 1 verses 3-6, teaches us more about this kind of hope we are meant to have and where it comes from, “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, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”
Our hope is alive! It lives in Jesus Christ who walks alongside those who accept him as their Lord. I believe that Jesus wants you to live a fulfilled life, full of hope. Every year, Christmas reminds me of the good news that Jesus chose to come into this world, simply to be a sacrifice and show his love for every human being on the planet. That kind of crazy love as well as the promises he shared give me the hope I need to thrive throughout the year.
Romans, chapter 5 verse 3B: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
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