Got Hope?

Let me preface this by saying that the following is in no way a political statement or judgement/bashing...On my way to work a couple weeks ago I drove up on this car that had an interesting magnet on the back of it. This magnet caught my eye because all it said from where I could see it was "Got Hope?" As I got closer to the car I realized that uderneath this slogan were the names "Obama/Biden." I am troubled by the fact that people are placing their hope merely in the government. This has nothing to do with the people that are going to be in office, but the fact that people are looking to the government for their hope is troubling. While this has been somewhat of the slogan for this presidential race, even now people are beginning to find out that not everything is as it seems and that all their hope for the future is beginning to fade already. As we celebrate Christmas this year with hope for the future I would challenge all of us to remember the reason that we celebrate Christmas to begin with. We celebrate this time because of the ultimate gift that God gave us, that being his son Jesus! Not only did Jesus live and die by crucifixion (historically proven), but he rose again to bring all of us hope for our lives and for our future. The hope of people cannot be merely placed in the government. People will let us down and promises will be broken unless they are the ones that were made by the only sinless creator. Christ provides us with everlasting hope and I pray that each person would find hope in him and the promise of salvation that he and he only can provide. Even through these economic struggles, wars, and government changes may our hope be found in him and not in government officials. Got hope?

Have you ever...

Have you ever felt like you were merely stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time? Have you ever wished that you were somewhere else or how about somebody else? Surely at some point in life these thoughts have all crossed our minds. For some this could have been due to many things but for many this is usually due to rejection or failure. It is interesting to note how these things can affect us in such a great way. Why is it that simple rejection or failure drives us to the point of questioning why we are and who we are? Simply put this is because of what we call our human righteousness. We have this thought of who we are and when something comes along and questions that then we begin to wonder whether or not we are who we thought we were. Most of us go through life thinking that we can attain righteousness by being a good person or by being a certain way. The Gospel teaches us that there is nothing that we can do in order to become righteous before God except surrender and bow at the foot of the cross of Christ. We cannot attain this perfect self by our own deeds, rather it comes from God alone. When something comes along and questions these thoughts of who we thought we were we immediately turn and question God. But if we have the understanding that this life is Christ's then we remove all grounds for pride and boasting. This in turn removes anything that has to do with building ourselves up and becoming righteous. Once we come to grips with the fact that this life is not ours and that we have traded spots with Christ then we can begin to understand what David meant in Psalm 13. David understood that there was nothing he could do to become righteous before God and he knew that even though his adversaries questioned him and rejoiced when he was shaken, he would wait on the Lord. Even though people may question who we are, even though they may tempt our character, even though we may fail, even though we may be rejected; we must wait on the Lord. Don't become discouraged and demoralized and begin to question God and why you are who you are and alive in this time. Rather I challenge you to wait on the Lord for He is the one who has made the perfect plan for your life and only He can guide you through it no matter what. Be patient, His promises never fail. Are you willing to wait?