Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; 1 Timothy 1:1
Inflation, war, military conflicts, abuses by police officers, abuses of police officers, natural catastrophes, vaccines, viruses, mass shootings, rampant drug abuses, suicide. Sound familiar? These are the topics of our most recent news media stories.
It is hard to have hope in a world with such distressing daily headlines.
But to have hope, don’t we need to know where it even comes from first? In 1 Timothy 1:1, the apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is our hope.
This world is filled with conflict, abuses, and even death. And God typically gets blamed for it all. But if we go back to the beginning, we can see God’s true desire and plan for us. We see the Garden of Eden. We see no inflation (because money didn’t exist, it wasn’t necessary), no war because the garden held only peace, no conflicts, no natural disasters, no illness, no drugs and NO Death. What we see is Paradise!
So, where did all of this come from then, if not from God? The answer to that question is SIN. It came from our own sin, pride, and arrogance. It came from making ourselves — and money — our own gods (small g).
This is where most people would say, “Yeah, but God could make it all stop”. You are absolutely right. He could… by annihilating the human race.
But that was not God’s plan or His desire. The scriptures remind us that God loves us. And, because we can not live a sinless life, He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins and die in our place. It was the only way that He could ensure that we would be able to spend eternity with Him.
1 John 4:9-11 says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” This is the same Son who the apostle Paul refers to as “our hope”.
So, God created paradise for us and we messed it up. He gave us each other and we create conflict with one another. He gave us a beautiful creation and we pollute and destroy it. God gave us Jesus, our hope and life, and we worship our own gods and choose sin and death. And we blame HIM!
Our hope is not in this world. Our hope is in Heaven which can only be reached through repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ, our true hope.
Father, forgive us for choosing money over you. Forgive us for choosing to make ourselves the god of our lives. Forgive us for making this life all about us and not about you. Jesus, you tell us that when we seek you with our whole heart, we will find you (Jeremiah 29:13). Lord, you are our true hope and we are seeking you with our whole heart! Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your shed blood. And, thank you, Father, for your love for us!
Romans 15:13 “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.”
If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, please click this link to our “Lifesaver” page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Jesus is waiting to fill you with true hope! You are LOVED!
Luv ya!
