Grab the Promised Hope!

     A famous composer was asked this question: “If you knew you had to spend the rest of your days on a desert island, which of your four       hundred compositions would you take with you?” “I’d take some blank paper,” he replied. “My favorite composition is always the one I will write tomorrow.” That’s the Spirit of our faith: the challenge to live each day hopefully and creatively, whatever the circumstances of life.

     This passage in Hebrews 6 is just one example. We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It is an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God.. (The Message)

     What he’s talking about goes something like this. Look, the world can be a very difficult, fearful, and uncertain place in which to live. That means that if we’re going to have any confidence, assurance, encouragement, courage, peace, etc., we’re going to have to get it someplace else. The only logical alternative is to look to God. One  reason for that is that by his very nature he cannot and will not lie or deceive us.   Secondly, he has made promises to all who put their faith and trust in him that in the end we will be overcomers in this world and in the next. You can take that to the bank because God will never change his mind or plans about what he has promised. That promise is like a spiritual lifeline being thrown to someone who is adrift in a sea of despair. So, grab that promised hope with both hands and never let go. Even when things appear to be hopeless, don’t let go because the other end of that lifeline is anchored to the very throne of God.

     I get goose bumps just thinking about that! None of us knows what the New Year will bring, but we do know what trusting God will bring - HOPE! Everything else will just bring more misery. So, let’s live as people of hope. Think about it this way: If each New Year is a chapter in the book then each new day is a blank piece of     paper. Each day is our opportunity to put something creative, significant, and hopeful on that page. Taking each day with its difficulties, struggles, and fears as it is, trusting that God will make all things right. Living each day, not looking at the     condition of our world but grabbing the Promised Hope with both hands.

     Get your New Year off to a hopeful start by being with us in worship each       Sunday as we begin a study of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae.  Paul shows them how to find power for living in the toughest challenges of life. I’ll bet God’s Word to them can be just as hopeful and encouraging to us. Don’t forget to bring your blank piece of paper! Have a blessed New Year.                       

Rev. Al Potts