KEEP HOPE ALIVE
Greetings church family!
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope! Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them.
Many years ago, Parade magazine told the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Lang, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
The two stories above are great reminders that having hope is a powerful experience. Gods’ Word is full of similar stories. Consider the bleeding woman seeking healing in Mark 5. Mark 5:25-26 says, “Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.” This woman spent EVERYTHING she had to find a cure, but to no avail. Not only was she terribly sick, but now despairingly poor. If there are two things that can sap the courage out of us in no time, it is poor health and an empty bank account!
But a ray of light shot through the darkness in her heart. Ellen White, in Desire of Ages, shares this: “...her hopes revived when she heard of the cures that Christ performed. She felt assured that if she could only go to Him she would be healed.” Maybe she heard about Jesus healing the man with leprosy. Maybe she got word of Jesus healing the paralytic who was lowered from the roof. Maybe she caught word of the man whose withered hand was restored by Jesus (all three of the aforementioned healings took place prior to this woman’s encounter with Jesus). Whatever the case, in her eyes, Jesus was her last hope. She risked rebuke, shame and forced isolation from society due to her being unclean, all for the possibility of being restored by the Savior!
Mark 5:27-29 continues the story, saying, “Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. For she said, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.’ Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.” What relief and elation she must have felt! Jesus was the reason she kept her hope alive!
Church family, what was true 2000 years ago is still true today. Jesus is our reason to keep hope alive as well - and what a hope He is! The cross and the empty grave is a reminder that, in Jesus, we have a future hope of dwelling in the presence of our heavenly Father. Jude 1:24-25 echoes this, saying, “Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.”
However, rest assured that Jesus isn’t just a future hope - he is a present hope as well! I love the promise of present hope in Jesus found in Isaiah 40:30-31. It says, “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.”
What is it that has you tired, weary, stumbling, and/or falling? What is it that has your heart down and your spirit disturbed? I invite you to embrace the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 42:5, which says, “Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.”
Be encouraged, church family. The God of hope is for you, He's with you, and He loves you!
Pastor Chris
