Some days it seems like hope seems hard to find. Things that you thought were secure are rocked by uncertainty and end up shattered on the ground at your feet. While hope may seem hard to come by in a post-Covid world, it is available. You just have to know where to look.
If you are a Christian, the encouraging news from scripture is that you have been given an eternal and living hope through your relationship with Christ.. an inheritance that doesn’t fade or spoil. (1 Peter 1:3-4) This isn’t the kind of vague wishing that most people have when they say “I hope things will get better” or “I hope my situation will turn out OK.” You have certainty and a guarantee that rests securely in Jesus Christ. He is your hope! And because you have Him, you have a new relationship that keeps you from ever being a pawn being moved around by circumstance. Though calamities will always occur that we don’t have control of, they stand as a reminder of our absolute and total desperate need of the grace of God.
The great blessing from Numbers 6 (above) is highlighted in the very center by the promise of God’s graciousness toward us. But to grasp the weight of what grace entails requires the fullness of New Testament understanding. There’s perhaps no more beautiful and exhaustive passage about the grace of God than found in Ephesians 2. Paul tells us that before salvation, all were dead in transgressions and sins (vs 1), slaves to sin (vs 2), children of Satan (vs 2) and the full fury of God’s wrath rested upon us (vs 3). What a perilous and dangerous position! Because we were born in a sinful condition and spiritually dead, if unchanged, God’s justice is certain to envelope us and permanently separate us from His presence.
But this is where God chose to offer His grace. Seeing our helpless condition and moved by His great love, Jesus came to extend the offer of life. (vs 4-5) By our faith in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, He breathes Himself into our dead souls and brings forth a glorious resurrection! It’s His graciousness that motivated Him to give us the chance to live! No matter where you have been, how long you have been there or what you have done, by His grace you can be saved.
Not by Works. Not by effort. Not by promises. Not by oaths nor pledges.
Grace Alone.
Strife to peace. Sinful to pure. Death to life.
The Lord be gracious to you … In Christ, He has.
Grace to you. Amen.
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