Regardless of your present
circumstances or crisis,
pressures or pain,
suffering or sorrow,
failures or frustrations,
danger or disease,
memories or misery,
temptations or trials,
problems or persecutions,
burdens or brokenness,
your situation is temporary compared to eternity. And eternity is going to be spent with Jesus in His Father’s house that has been lovingly prepared just for you! That’s the truth! Your future has been confirmed!
Who is Jesus? He lived two thousand years ago, in an obscure town, in an obscure country, during a relatively dark period in human history that was dominated by the Roman Empire. Yet He stands unequaled and unparalleled in the phenomenal greatness of His life as well as in the stunning impact He has had on history.
As we look back over the past two thousand years, a handful of individuals seem to rise up from our history pages – individuals whose lives or words or accomplishments impacted the entire human race, for good or for bad. Names like Julius Caesar, Martin Luther, Muhammad, Christopher Columbus, Adolf Hitler, Alexander Graham Bell, Jonas Salk, and Mahatma Gandhi come readily to mind. Yet I would heartily agree with Reynolds Price, who in the introduction to his Time magazine cover story on Jesus, wrote, “It would require much exotic calculation . . . to deny that the single most powerful figure – not merely in these two millenniums but in all human history – has been Jesus of Nazareth.” Amen!
When God had told Noah He was “going to bring the floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens,” He had also said He would establish a covenant with Noah and his family to keep them alive along with all the animals who would come to him (Gen. 6:17-18, 20). Noah had God’s promise that God would bring him through the Flood to new life on the other side.
Have you been in a situation that has proven to be extremely stressful? It may not have been as stressful as a nuclear holocaust or a devastating flood, but has the pressure been great enough so that consuming fear and worry have been your constant companions?
When you find yourself drowning in overwhelming circumstances, ask God to give you a promise to which you can cling – a promise on which you can base your hope. Hope that is based simply on what you want or what you feel is not a genuine expression of faith. Our hope must be based on God’s word.
