Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
-1 Peter 1:3
Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman once wrote a song entitled “Heaven in the Real World,” in which one of the repeated lines is, “Where is the hope? Where is the peace?” Those are great questions because I think those are the questions many people are asking every day.
How I praise God that we have the answer! There is hope and there is peace for this world. But that hope and peace is found only in Jesus Christ.
You see, when you and I accepted Christ, we were born again to what the Bible in the verse above calls a “living hope,”…a hope that is not wishful thinking, but a hope that is based on the reality of God Himself evidenced in the power of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
This living hope means we can persevere through trials, rough spots, and even pain. This living hope means we may stumble and fall, but we will not falter completely because we are in Jesus Christ. And this living hope means we have a future that is sure and that we aren’t alone today.
The peace God gives us when we accept Jesus is a peace that the world could never know. It means that we can enjoy serenity of heart no matter what happens to us. Why? Well, Jesus said it best in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
Where is the hope? Where is the peace? In Christ! My prayer is that you will experience that hope and peace in your heart today…and every day.
IN CHRIST, YOU HAVE THE HOPE AND PEACE THAT CAN ENDURE ANY STORM.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,”
Luke 24:32–33
Early in the second half of the 2013 Super Bowl between the Ravens and the Giants, most of the lights went out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans where the game was being played. For more than half an hour, the players, fans, and coaches stood around, waiting for something to happen. Electric crews worked frantically to get the lights back on so the game could resume. Finally, full power was restored, and the game went on. There are a lot of Christians and churches in our day who are much like that stadium while the lights were out. They are on the team—truly children of God—but they are standing around in the dark and not accomplishing much of anything.
What we need to overcome this spirit of lethargy and darkness is a renewed connection to our Divine source of power. Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). From time to time all of us need a renewed sense of God’s power and presence, and a stirring and revival of our hearts.
We do not have Jesus to talk to us personally as the two disciples did, but we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to quicken the Word of God in our minds and renew our hearts and spirits within us. If we will listen to His voice, we will find ourselves strengthened and encouraged for the work to which He has called us.
Today’s Growth Principle:
If your heart is not on fire for God, run to the Word and stir it up.
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