February 4, 2023: 1 Peter 1:3 - We Have a Living Hope in Jesus

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” - 1 Peter 1:3

As a child, I used to put my hope in my parents, but I realized at a young age that they couldn’t save me from despair. As a young married woman, I used to put my hope in my husband, but I realized he couldn’t save me from my internal struggles. As a mother, I used to put my hope in my children, but I realized even all their love couldn’t fix my brokenness. As a citizen of the United States, I used to put my hope in our government, but I realized it is made up of people who are sinners just like me and that it can save no one. I used to put my hope in myself and in what I had accomplished in my life, but I realized it was a shallow hope, leaving me feeling even more empty inside. I was always searching, seeking for that which I desperately needed in my life, to fill that void, that emptiness inside, that longing for something more, something that which I didn’t fully understand but I knew that I needed.

Till one day, and I’ve told this story before but it’s worth telling again, all of my hope was gone; I had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to, and God said, “Child of Mine, Turn to Me.” You see, I had already accepted Jesus as my Savior about three years prior, but I hadn’t fully given Him my heart and all my struggles. I held onto them tightly in my pride, still believing that I could fix all of this on my own, without Him. I thought I was strong and yet I was weak, oh, so weak. Yet, it was only by becoming weak, on my knees in my closet crying out to Him, that I became strong in Him. I don’t care if people believe I am crazy, I tell you here and now that there is power in the name of Jesus. He pursued me even when I didn’t pursue Him. Through His abundant love and mercy, and though it took me several years after I had accepted Him as my Savior, I had finally realized that He is my living hope, that I could trust in Him with everything in my life, holding nothing back.

All that exists in the world today is temporary, and nothing in it or on it could ever save us. The only One who can offer us a true and living hope is Jesus Christ. If we put away our pride and humble ourselves before Him, He will lift the heavy burdens off of our backs and do the heavy lifting for us, He will be our strength when we have none. Sadly, the world teaches the exact opposite: we are to be full of pride, even and especially now, in our sin, and we are to do things “our way,” not His way.

When Jesus died, when He gave up His life on the cross, He didn’t stay dead. As foretold in the Bible, and as He Himself foretold His disciples, He rose again, and was resurrected on the third day. Not only was He resurrected, He walked the earth for 40 days, revealing Himself to over 500 people on different occasions before He ascended to heaven, where He is now, at the right hand of God the Father. No matter what the world tells us, God is not dead, and Jesus is not fake news. Jesus is alive. There is a reason that people, entertainment and media industries, world leaders, governments, and countries are so threatened by Him, and that reason is because He is alive! If He were still dead, where is the threat in Him?

As the Bible told us thousands of years before it happened, Jesus came to the earth the first time to offer the way of salvation from sins by believing in Him as our Savior. As the Bible also tells us, Jesus is going to come back to righteously judge this wicked world. Until He does and as long as you have breath in your lungs, you have another day to decide whether or not you will let Him be your living hope, will you believe in Him as your Savior. When we do things “our way,” it leads to sin. If we never turn to Jesus, our sin is never forgiven, resulting in eternal separation from the One who could have set us free, never able to go back and undo all that we have done and turn to Him, for then, it will be too late. In closing I ask you, will you do it your way, which leads to destruction, or His way, which leads to life? As you ponder this question, with the words of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” echoing in your mind, consider what Jesus told His disciples:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) ✝️