Hope For Today

To be “poor in spirit” means that we come to an honest understanding of who we are without God in our life.  We recognize that we are powerless to do life on our own. We no longer deny what we have done in the past, but humbly admit the exact nature of our wrongs to God and ask for His forgiveness.

Who of us doesn’t need strength, today and any day.  Isn’t it wonderful to know that God answers us as soon as we pray?  He encourages us, gives us strength, and cares for us.But I take note of the one condition – God does that for those who are humble, admitting their need and asking for His help.  Those who are proud and think they don’t need help are on their own.

God is giving us another chance today to humbly acknowledge our shortcomings and ask Him to remove them. I’m grateful to live today in the care of God, the God of another chance, aren’t you?

God tells the truth and helps us to get ready for what we will face. Doing the right thing often isn’t convenient.  Sometimes we put a vision in our minds of hardship and overwhelming pain and decide we did not want to deal with it, at any cost. But God has a good way forward for us.

It’s not uncommon in our society these days to have our character shaped by isolation and getting our own way in whatever way we can. It's challenging to live in agreement with people who have ideas and ways of doing things that are different from our way.  For healthy relationships to be formed and maintained we need to develop the character quality of co-operation.

Jesus teaches that the most basic hunger in life is the need to know and live as God intends. Whether we admit it or not, the guilt and shame that comes from living life out of sync with God's purposes leaves us feeling edgy and dissatisfied.  We know something is wrong but we're not sure what. God can help us make things right.

God wants us to live free and with dignity even though He knows that we are flawed human beings who need saving. How do we know that we are rescued from our sin and from the destruction that sin causes?  We receive the forgiveness that God offers to anyone who acknowledges their failures and asks for cleansing.

We're one week on from our celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, demonstrating His power over sin and death and verifying His claimes to be bringing in a new kingdom, the kingdom of God. How are we meant to live in that kingdom today?

It’s just a week since Good Friday and our remembering the great sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.  Our world is full of many troubles and the death and resurrection of Jesus is meant to reassure us, particularly during troubled times, that God has a good way forward for us.

I’m so grateful that Jesus Christ gave His life as the seed that died so that you and I could find life with God. The harder part for us is the time when it’s up to us to be the seed that is planted into the soil and dies so that new life can be multiplied.

With full knowledge of our broken past, Jesus looks at us today, asks us to follow Him, and promises to use us in meaningful and satisfying ways if we will do His will.  His resurrection power in us is more than enough to make us successful in the venture.

When Thomas was told that they had seen Jesus, he doubted that it was true. He was afraid to hope again.  Too many surprises.  Too much information.  Thomas just couldn’t deal with any more. Like Thomas, some of us have known the discouragement of hopes dashed and opportunities lost.  In our broken fearful lives, we doubt the presence of a loving caring God with us to help.