September 21 2017 – Click here to listen
Wow! I just spent an hour or more reading the news and all I can say is God help us. Geez! Earthquakes occurring all over the world killing terrified people by the hundreds, others dying and losing everything in violent hurricanes and raging floods, parents abusing their kids, pedophiles including teachers having sex with our children, race riots, threats of nuclear war, worldwide antibiotic shortages, corruption at the highest levels, greed, hate, murder, rape, robbery, disease, suffering; it’s just heartbreaking.
Coincidentally I read a passage this morning in Romans 5:1 – Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly . . .
Imagine a world without the hope of Jesus Christ. Ugh! It is almost incomprehensible to me and very difficult to look back in time and remember those dark days before I became a Christian and suicide was constantly on my miserable mind.
Today it is a different story altogether. As believers in Christ we know that our current problems are comparable to the blink of an eye when eternity spent with our Lord in paradise is considered. True we groan along with the entire Universe as we await our Lord’s return and making all things right; however, I’m reminded of Romans 8:24 – And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
As we suffer through this world of injustice we must understand what is miraculously taking place in our spirits. Remember this part of the verses above: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Unfortunately, prophecy tells us unequivocally that times on this earth will get decidedly worse right up until the Lord says, ENOUGH, and returns. But take heart the Holy Spirit has poured out God’s love into our hearts and we are assured that He is in full control and at a time of His choosing will make all things right.
Therein lies the hope my friends. Cling to it, believe it, and rest easy in it for we now have “peace with God.” We have nothing to fear when we put our faith in this verse: For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. So today, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
Psalm 119:116
Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.