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Spiritual Development September 2018

What a Friend We Have In Jesus

So what do you do, where do you run, what do you tell yourself, or how do you respond when, in this broken world, you are left alone? In some way, it happens to us all. Made to live in      community with God and with one another, we find ourselves alienated and alone. Such aloneness cuts deep and hurts a lot precisely because we were designed to be social beings. We were made to live in self-sacrificing love and peace with one another. Harsh words, disloyal acts, slanderous intentions, and violent moments were never supposed to infect and destroy the  community for which we were made. But immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, tension and accusation erupted in their relationship, and then it became really bad really fast. Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, murdered his brother in a fit of sibling jealousy. Since sin has  infected our world, wrong infects our relationships. It shatters the community God intended us to live in and leaves many of us alone. This aloneness takes many forms: 

• Friends turn their backs on friends.
• Husbands and wives divorce.
• Neighbors move away.
• Employees get fired.
• Children reject their parents.
• Churches divide.
• Problems of life carve a gulf between us.
• Friends and relatives lose contact.
• Old age leaves us lonely.
• Death takes dear ones from us.

Yes, somewhere in your life, you will be left alone. But it is in this experience of aloneness that you must remember the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus captured the relational beauty of this in his own life when, as he faced death, he said to his disciples: “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me” (John 16:32). Yes, people and circumstances leave you alone. Yet, it is impossible for one of God’s children to be completely alone, because we have a Father in heaven who is always with us and who will not leave us, no matter what. Remind yourself today that, as God’s child, no matter how many people have walked out of your life, fundamental aloneness is a thing of your past. If you’re God’s child, you are loved  today even if, in your human relationships, you are completely alone. 

                                                                                                                   
(Excerpted from New Morning Mercies)

Recommended Resource— In His Image by Jen Wilkin
Sometimes we ask What is God’s will for my life? when we should really be asking Who should I be? The Bible has an answer: Be like the very image of God.
By exploring ten characteristics of who God is—holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful,  patient, truthful, and wise—this book helps us understand who God intends for us to be. Through Christ, the perfect reflection of the image of God, we will discover how God’s own attributes impact how we live, leading to freedom and purpose as we follow his will and are conformed to his image.

Spiritual Development August 2018

What is Biblical Hope?

We use the word hope in a variety of ways. Sometimes it connotes a wish about something over which we have no control at all. We say, “I sure hope the train comes soon,” or, “I hope it doesn’t rain on the day of the picnic.” These are wishes for things, but we wouldn’t bank on them. The word hope also depicts what we think should happen. We say, “I hope he will choose to be honest this time,” or, “I hope the judge brings down a guilty verdict.” Here hope reveals an internal sense of morality or justice. We also use hope in a motivational sense. We say, “I did this in the hope that it would pay off in the end,” or, “I got married in the hope that he would treat me in marriage the way he treated me in courtship.” All of this is to say that because the word hope is used in a variety of ways, it is important for us to understand how this word is used in Scripture or in its gospel sense. Biblical hope is foundationally more than a faint wish for something.

Biblical hope is deeper than moral expectation, although it includes that. Biblical hope is more than a motivation for a choice or action, although it is that as well. So what is biblical hope? It is a  confident expectation of a guaranteed result that changes the way you live. Let’s pull this definition apart.

First, biblical hope is confident. It is confident because it is not based on your wisdom, faithfulness, or power, but on the awesome power, love, faithfulness, grace, patience, and wisdom of God. Because God is who he is and will never, ever change, hope in him is hope well placed and secure.

Hope is also an expectation of a guaranteed result. It is being sure that God will do all that he has planned and promised to do. You see, his promises are only as good as the extent of his rule, but since he rules everything everywhere, I know that resting in the promises of his grace will never leave me empty and embarrassed. I may not understand what is happening and I may not know what is coming around the corner, but I know that God does and that he controls it all. So even when I am confused, I can have hope, because my hope does not rest on my understanding, but on God’s   goodness and his rule.

Finally, true hope changes the way you live. When you have hope that is guaranteed, you live with confidence and courage that you would otherwise not have. That confidence and courage cause you to make choices of faith that would seem foolish to someone who does not have your hope. If you’re God’s child, you never have to live hopelessly, because hope has invaded your life by grace, and his name is Jesus!