Hope For Today

God wants to lift us out of whatever sorrow and darkness has clouded our own souls with life’s challenges.  Our part is to realize that we are not seeing reality as clearly as we should.  God is with us, has been with us, providing us whatever we need for whatever we face. 

The resurrection of Jesus proves that the power of God’s love is stronger than all of evil so anything challenging that happens in our lives is something we can bring to God and expect His power to make changes in us – not just in our bodies but in our souls and spirits as well.

On this Good Friday we are stopped dead in our tracks, so to speak, in amazement, Lord Jesus, at the depth of Your love for us.  While we didn't care, while we scorned You and Your involvement in the earth and our lives You acted on our behalf at huge personal cost.

This is the day in the Christian calendar when we remember Jesus who is so one with us and yet so much better than all of us. At the Last Supper, Jesus should have been the focus of honour with His friends but he’s the one who paid attention to them and who got up and humbly served them by washing their feet. How do we live according to this example?

That Jesus took our sins and sicknesses on Himself and hung on the cross until He died, even though He could have called thousands of angels to release Him and deal with His murderers, this is love, as the old song says, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

On Tuesday of the week Jesus was sacrificed for us, we know that He was at a dinner. Remember the story? While Jesus is having dinner a woman of “ill repute” comes with a very expensive bottle of perfume and pours the perfume on Jesus’ head to express her love and gratitude to Him and to honour Him. Jesus said she would always be remembered and here we are 2000 years later doing just that.

So few people really recognized Jesus and gave thanks for who He was.  This week we want to take time to focus our attention on Him. We are asking God to help us to honor Jesus in these days and going forward.

It’s Palm Sunday as we head into Holy Week.  This is the day where we remember and celebrate how Jesus, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and was given a hero’s welcome.

We would do well to search our hearts to find out what is really going on inside us and deal with that rather than simply expressing anger about something or someone.

There is so little that we finite human beings know about what is going on in our world – both the world around us and the world of our soul.  Jesus knows so much more and is so ready and willing to help us navigate things in a way that will be helpful all around.

It’s important to ask ourselves in what ways we put our own ways of doing things ahead of seeking God for His plan in each of our days and circumstances. 

To grow and mature and do well in any area of life requires commitment. Maintaining our life with God also takes time and effort. The habits and disciplines we practice need to be consistently carried on if we are to grow and mature.