Hope Revealed.

Growing up, my brothers and I would always get the Sears Wishbook in the mail during the holiday season. We would spend hours looking through it and making our lists. My dad would later look at the lists and say something like, “Don’t get your hopes up.” He was just reminding us that we probably would not get everything on our lists.

We’ve had our hopes dashed along the way as well. A reoccurring sickness that doesn’t seem to go away; an unstable financial future; a relationship that went south. There have been many times in life when our hopes were not realized. However, every time you open God’s Word, God only says, “Get your hopes UP!”

What is hope? It’s a joyful expectation for the future and in Jesus, our hopes for a better tomorrow can be realized. Wouldn’t it be incredible to have the kind of hope that changed the way we went to work on Monday or the way we showed love to our spouse or how we interacted with our children?

In John’s gospel (John 1:1-5), the apostle paints four beautiful pictures of how God reminds us that hope can be realized in our lives during this season of hope. First, John says hope is revealed in God’s creation. While Matthew and Luke’s gospel begin at the manger, John goes all the way back to creation. Before there was a world to be saved, there was a Savior who created the world. Everything was created through Jesus and for Jesus.

And hope is revealed in the cradle. Jesus left the splendor of Heaven and was poured into a human body. We find hope in Immanuel, which means God is with us. Indeed, Jesus “moved into our neighborhood”, got his hands dirty and 33 years later, gave us the best gift we could ever hope to have.

Hope is revealed at the cross as well. John the Baptist says in John 1:29 that Jesus is the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. We celebrate the nativity story this time of year but Jesus’ purpose was to die on the cross so that our sin would be removed and we could live with him forever. The Psalmist says in Psalm 103 that God has thrown our sin as far as the east is from the west because of Jesus.

And finally, John makes the connection that Christ is King. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah that is proclaimed in John 1:41. Jesus is our hope, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Deliverer. And He will be your hope when you crown him King of your life.

The Christmas story is really a story of worship. It’s realizing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed one of God. And this Christmas is the call to make him Lord and King of your life. He is so evident all around us. Accept the greatest gift ever given in Jesus today. Blessings on your journey.

Finding Hope.

Do you remember the Sears Wishbook that came in the mail at Christmas? A catalogue of toys as thick as my Bible. My brothers and I would sit down with it and earmark every page that had a toy we wanted. We hoped Santa would bring us all the toys we circled and labeled. It was fun to dream and hope.

In life, we also have hopes. We started the year hoping we’d find our Mr. or Mrs. Right. We started the year hoping we find a cure for our prolonged illness. We started the year hoping to become financially stable. We started the year hoping to create a more solid marriage. But as the months have rolled on, our hope has turned into hopelessness.

So, what is hope? It’s a joyful expectation for the future. It’s the idea that something better is just around the corner. Hope moves us forward in life. Hope gives us strength and energy. Hope helps us breath during difficult moments.

All through God’s Word, He reminds us there is hope. God consistently points toward the Messiah. Over 300 times in our Old Testament, prophets and kings point forward to a Messiah. In the New Testament, Messiah is translated “Christ”. Both words mean “anointed one, deliverer, Savior”.

This holiday season is a reminder that God has sent us hope. That all along, God has had a plan for our lives. As tough is your situation is in life, as difficult the conversation will be, as anxious as the evening news makes you feel, God has a plan. And that plan has been to send his son, whom we celebrate during the Christmas season.

But the Messiah is also a person and his Name is Jesus the Christ. He’s the Son of God who came to this earth some 2000 years ago. He was foretold in Isaiah 9:6, some 700 years before Jesus was born. The prophet says, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

The Messiah is also a presence. The prophet Isaiah says in 7:14 that his Name will be Immanuel which means “God is with us”. Every single day, whether it is a victory or defeat, whether light or dark, whether a lonely minute or a large gathering, He is always there. So during tough times, we fix our eyes on Jesus, the promised gift of hope from God above.

When things seem out of control, he’s in control; when things seem dark, he is light; when things seem to hurt, he’s the healer. When things seem hopeless, he is our hope. So, this season, focus on the gift of hope whose Name is Jesus. Blessings on your journey.