This morning I needed to skip to the back of The Book…to remind myself of how it all ends.
Somedays we all feel the weight, the pressure, the sorrow. Somedays the “whys” are too many to consider and the pain of suffering too heavy to hold.
Somedays we just need to push back from the present moment and look ahead.
Somedays we just need hope. Hope for what is to come.
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away…
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I will make all things new…these words are true and faithful…It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
Revelation 21:1, 3-6
Hope is being revealed day by day and will one day be fully revealed.
For now, we live in the “in-between” time; in-between the time of Jesus’ victorious resurrection, and the day of His return, when He makes all things right once and for all. While we live in the “in-between”, we are invited to cling to the One who brings hope. We must cling to Him if we have any intention of making it to the end. There is no stronger hope than Him.
As we cling to Him, HOPE begins to work its way from the inside of us to the outside of us.
Today, if unable to do anything else, let’s hold onto Hope; let’s hide ourselves in the One who freely gives Himself to all who thirst for Him. The One who is The Beginning and The End. The One who dwells in us through faith.
And let’s trust. Let’s trust that as HOPE lives IN US, HE will flow FROM US into our world. Let’s watch in awe as HOPE GROWS in us and out of us; as Hope works its way into our pain, into our questions, into our sorrow, into our world.
Because one day all creation will be restored, all that is broken will be redeemed. One day every tear will be dried and death will be consumed by HOPE Himself. He is making and will one day make all things right.
Let’s hold onto HOPE today.
This was more preaching the Gospel to myself, than anything else. I guess that’s what it’s all about. Remembering and proclaiming the end of the story to ourselves and to our world, especially on the hard days.
“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:17
What do you cling to on your hard days?