PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR HOPE
Written October 2018
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. (1 Peter 3:15 NLT)
The very first Christian CD I ever owned was an album by Steven Curtis Chapman called Heaven in the Real World. It was my first real introduction to Contemporary Christian Music but I was so thankful for it’s message and how God used it to grow my faith and worship. The very first song on the album was the title song Heaven in the Real World but before the song began there was a little introduction where you heard the voice of Billy Graham saying this. “Where is the hope? I meet millions who tell me they feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us or what laws are passed or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people and that is where our hope is this country and that’s where our hope is in life”.
I love those words because it reminds us that outside of God we have no hope. Except for Jesus Christ we have no hope for today or tomorrow and in Him we have peace, and hope, and purpose. In 1 Peter a great charge is given to the church to be ready to answer a simple question. It is the same one posed to Billy Graham and one that has been asked countless times over the years. That question is where is our hope?
We live in a world that is shouting that question out loud. With the strife and conflict happening on Capitol Hill and the fear about where we are going as a nation the question that is on everyone’s mind in one way shape or form is what hope do I have?
As Christians we are able to give an answer to that. We have a hope in Jesus Christ. In Him we have forgiveness of sins, a promise of new life, and confidence that the grave is not the end as He was able to defeat it in His resurrection. In Him we know this as well, that though this world might be in a bad spot there is coming a day when He will bring forth His rule over all. That is an amazing hope we can communicate to others.
We can give this proclamation about who Christ is and what He has done but what is wonderful is we can give our own testimony about how God gives us hope each day, through difficulty and trials. We can tell of the peace we have at the hospital, in the doctor’s office, as our children fly off to another country, and the peace that passes all understanding that we find whispered in the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. That is powerful and that is what the world needs to hear.
So are you ready. Can you answer that age old question? Where is the hope? I hope so because it is desperately needed in the world in which we live today.