Hope in Him ...

Friday, March 18, 2016. What is it you put your hope in? What is it that gives you life? Humans take all different kind of things which are fascinating or attractive and put their hope in them. And to some extent it is clear that we hope on very normal things: we hope to find food, shelter, friends, work, joy, entertainment. All what we need to live and to be happy is part of our hope.

God's Role …

We live in a world which is full of excitement. It is also full of problems, full of fight and pain. We are given some years - something between a minute of life and 120 years. That is what is given to us - and for people who do not know God, that seems to be the playground they can work with. It is the perspective they have and the hope they can have is to be successful and as healthy as possible in this world. We live in a world of freedom, where humans make their own decisions about what they want to do and want to believe.

Some people deny the existence of a spiritual world. Others take it serious. There are people who deal with the powers of the spiritual world. There are different powers, and you can try to influence them. You can try to live with this world. From a Christian perspective, we are living with it anyway, since it is there. But there is more: there is also God, the creator, the first and the last. He is spirit, but also the creator of the spiritual world.

God wants to live in a relationship of trust and love and truth with all humans. He is fantastic, full of grace and mercy, full of love and dedication. The world with its freedom has chosen a path which is separated from God. So he came into his creation, to search it, to find it, to save it! He came in Jesus, in Christ Jesus, which means that Jesus was filled with his holy spirit, that he was and is one with God, and one with the spirit. It is him, the one which gives hope to the world! The apostle Peter describes it in his letter:

Hope in Jesus …

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1)

Our hope is in Jesus, in the living creator of this world. Our hope is in him, and he is the center of all, as he was in the beginning. In him, we can get to know God, we can get to know his humility, his truthfulness, his love. We are invited to this love, which is pure and sincere. It is without any hidden agenda. We get to know a friendliness which is beyond our wildest dreams.

When you get even just a glimpse of the love of God, you are filled with surprise and with thankfulness. You are filled with joy: “Can it be?” “It is true.” “It is fantastic.” “This is wonderful.” “How great!” … When you get to know his spirit, your heart feels warm and clear, it becomes calm, it is filled with peace. With him, you have come home - it is indescribable, he is a wonder of unbelievable depth and freshness. He is God! (RWEP) ... more texts