Living Hope

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Dec 28, 2015 1275

As the year draws to a close, it’s customary to reflect on its events, its dramas, joys and sorrows. Perhaps it has been a difficult year for you, and you’re glad to see it slip into history. Or it might have been the opposite, and you’d like to hold on to the joy and happiness you’ve experienced. Either way, nothing you can do can halt the passage of time: it is the great constant in life.

Perhaps it has been a very tough year, and you are tired. You need to recharge your batteries, and you wonder where the strength will come from to face the new year. Remember that even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:30,31).

You, or someone close to you may have suffered greatly in the past year. Paul reminds us: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

Perhaps you are confused about what the future holds for you. God reminds you: There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off (Proverbs 23:18).

Regardless of what the past year has delivered or the new year holds for any one of us, we can say with the great apostle: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (Peter 1:3).