Easter is only days away. Not surprisingly my mind moves towards this watershed event in not just our history but mine as well. I always find Easter tends to creep up on me since the date varies year-to-year. This year, though, has been even more so with all the focus and distraction of the war in the Ukraine and lingering effects of Covid here in Canada. We may feel like we’re in a blizzard or winter has returned but as the weather gets warmer, we know spring is around the corner. I have the hope of all that comes from this great season. As I’ve been teaching of late in anticipation of Easter and considering in my own journey with God, I’ve been thinking a lot about hope.
We hope for many things like winning a lottery, or that our favorite sports team will win the championship but what really is this kind of hope? It’s wishful thinking. When the Psalmist wrote: ‘Put your hope in God” (Ps.42:5) he didn’t have this whimsical idea like we saw earlier. No, he was not thinking of ‘cross your fingers and think happy thoughts’. No, just as Paul talked about being “joyful in hope” (Rom.12:12) the Bible has a very different take on it. When we read ‘hope’ here it means confident expectation or anticipation. It’s like the days leading up to Christmas or the night before your birthday. You know it’s coming, and you can’t wait! How do we look at this as people who are passionate about fitness? Its like helping someone lose 5lbs or gain muscle mass. With the correct plan, and patience, it will be achieved. This is not based on wishful thinking but rather confident expectation. See the connection?
Harnessing hope
How can we harness this in our lives and what we do? This kind of hope is built on the promises of God as found in the Bible. This is a hope that does not disappoint (Rom.5:5). If we’re honest with ourselves, we do suffer a lot of disappointment in our lives. We’re disappointed and discouraged by the impact on Covid the last two years. We also struggle when our training routine is disrupted by work or even an injury. Then there are struggles with disappointment in our marriage, our relationships, and on and on it goes. Hope fades, despair crowds in. We try to rally our spirits but it’s hard. But when we put our hope in God, in the promises of scripture, no matter what’s happening around us, we’ll find we’re not disappointed because our hope is in God.
How do you experience that kind of hope? Simply, you need to align yourself to God and His rules for life. He can’t empower what He’s not in. That means we need to practice the spiritual disciplines of confessing our sins. We place Jesus as Lord, repenting, or turning from, the things that are displeasing to God. We accept His gift of forgiveness and then live according to the precepts and principles as found in the Bible. When we do that, we can truly experience a lasting, deep, and satisfying hope.
Easter reminds us of God’s love
At Easter time we are reminded anew that God loved us so much He sent His only son to die for us, that the Word became flesh. We remember that anyone who believes in Him, confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in their heart God raised Him from the dead, then they will not perish but experience the joy, hope, and promise of life everlasting in Heaven, a real place. (John 3:16, John 1:14, Rom.10:9)
At Easter we remember Jesus dying a criminal’s death on a Roman cross but through that voluntary act defeating sin. We remember Jesus’ burial after his death, a reminder that there are dark days for those who are His followers, but we also remember a stone rolled away, an empty tomb, death could not hold Him down. Most importantly, we are reminded that death has been defeated by Him. Through this we too will experience a future resurrection into a perfect living for eternity in a place where there is no more war, abuse, divorce, disease, or suffering-Heaven.
And that gives us hope and is our hope, our confident expectation, our anticipation of what’s to come, found at this special time of year-Easter. That trumps Covid, war, or anything that gets us down. Let’s celebrate this hope!
