Archive for the ‘ Hope ’ Category
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.“
Isaiah 40:3, ESV
God has given us peace through Christ by revealing His love through the cross, and it was proof of the prophecies from hundreds of years earlier, even of John the Baptist, showing God’s faithfulness. Our peace comes in knowing His sovereignty and omniscience.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4:16, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, and His love fills us and connects to God and to each other.
Love well.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, and He brings eternal life. We must believe this and love out that faith.
Do you believe?
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 6:35, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, and He alone satisfies our souls and longings. One day He will return and remove all longings, pains, and worries.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, and He is preparing a place for us in eternity with Him. May we treasure our Lord and Savior.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, and He has overpowered evil and sin by His life, death, and resurrection. We now have hope of overcoming the problems of this life through Christ.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, pushing back the darkness of evil and showing us the path to God and out of sin and shame.
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:7-8, ESV
The hope of Christ is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, that God Himself came to us to love like one of us to redeem us from death.
I enjoy the Christmas season. I enjoy celebrating Advent.
The first week of Advent is traditionally seen as being a time for looking at hope and faith, having an expectation of the coming Savior. This year, I am using some of the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
Let’s get into
“Look, the days are coming”—
Jeremiah 33:14-16, CSB
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will fulfill the good promise
that I have spoken
concerning the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
In those days and at that time
I will cause a Righteous Branch
to sprout up for David,
and he will administer justice
and righteousness in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will dwell securely,
and this is what she will be named:
The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
The world was full of sin, separation, and violence. Israel and Judah were God’s chosen people to spread His glory, but they had essentially failed at being faithful. Israel was already taken into exile, and Jeremiah was living during the time of Judah going into exile.
Jeremiah reminded us that God had established His covenant with King David, that an eternal Kingdom was coming with a descendant of David ruling forever. When this King comes, salvation and peace shall come. The next two verses even include that there will also be an eternal Priest.
This Priestly King will be called “The Lord is our righteousness.” As 1 Corinthians 1:30 reminds us, Christ is our righteousness and redemption, the Lord who sanctifies us.
We now know who this Priestly King is, and we must submit ourselves to His rule. And our hope is for eternity, knowing that Christ will come again. As said in Luke 21:25-36, this world will pass away, but He and His word will last forever, so we must prepare ourselves for His next coming.
The Hope of mankind has come and is coming, so let us repent of our sins, changing the way we think and act, worshiping the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity of the Godhead, that we may be ready when He returns. We have hope only if we are found in Christ.
Believe in the coming Son.
Lord, we have sinned against You and You alone. You are our only hope. Grant us the grace to repent, the strength to follow You, and the will to love others through the gospel and serving each other until You return. Show us the hope we have in Your life, death, and resurrection, and by the power of the Holy Spirit guide us in all truth until You return.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:34, ESV
God has said He will be with us, so with the hope of His presence and eternity, we can love without fear of what the day may bring.
a simple man of God 