Dear reader,
Last Tuesday evening, we received a little rain along with some lightning and thunder. It’s been too long since we heard the sound of raindrops on the roof, and a welcome sound it was. The warmer temperatures have increased the traffic around the lake, and there were several people fishing this weekend. Can it be spring after all? We will have to wait and see.
As the world seems to be spinning out of control, do you find yourself feeling anxious about the future? I have been guilty of that very thing, but when I go to God’s word, I am encouraged once again. I hesitate to write on this topic, because it seems I am in a rut here. However, as I listen to the cultural conversation, I hear many people asking the same questions.
With Easter just two weeks away, we may begin to contemplate what the resurrection of Jesus means in light of eternity. The apostle Peter speaks of the everlasting hope we have because of Christ’s resurrection.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who k faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Further down in the letter, Peter writes, “Through him (Jesus) you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1:21).
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
In Him,
Pastor Jerry