One of the fresh
blessings of getting up early is to spend some time in prayer and study,
reflections and contemplation. Another blessing is that I took
a brisk tour of the world news, the breaking news around the corner and
the around the world. I get to glance through some of
the major world newspapers to glean the world news. I was also
watching one of national channels this morning, which had a guest weather
reporter flown into New York City from Charlotte, North Carolina. He
was dressed up... handsome and winsome. He was joyful and
vibrant. The Network weather reporter asked who he would like to thank
this morning. The gust reporter said with out any hesitation, "First I
thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I thank Mom and Dad then my
neighbor. One of the fascinating features about this guest reporter
is that he is only 9 ( nine) years old. Praise the Lord! Jesus
capture the hearts young boys and girls that they may live in Him and
walk in His light with great courage and conviction and, best of all,
in great freedom.
"Weeping
may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning."Psalm 30. This
is one of favorite verses. Praise the Lord for the joy that comes in the
morning. I am a morning person. Deeply I long for
morning. The Lord of Eternal morning makes all morning glorious and
brilliant.
It
has been raining since yesterday. It is a friendly rain. We are
experiencing warming trends here in beautiful Central New York. They
are forecasting warm and summer like wether in the beautiful Southern
states. Praise the Lord for the Lord of heaven and earth is the One who
makes things happen in His divine providence and according His divine
purposes. He is upon the throne. He reminds me, "Don't freak
out. . . you are not in charge. . . " The Lord reminds me that He is
in charge so we do not need to strive, but just keep trusting Him, loving Him,
and serving Him. Praise the Lord for the church of Jesus Christ our
Lord. He has promised that He will build His church upon the Rock, and
the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
As
I shared some time ago, Alice and I are "Church Addicts", and we love
it. We have been loved by the Lord Jesus our Savior and we have been
nurtured by His church, his people, the family of God, at times blemished,
tainted, wrinkled, stained yet redeemed by the Lord Jesus. The way the
Lord looks at His church, He declares that we are justified, we are being
sanctified, and we will be glorified when "we shall behold Him face to
face". WOW. This propels and provokes us to live our
lives looking not at the trends, the moorings of the culture or winds of
fads, but looking to Jesus who is the same yesterday, Today, and forever.
He is the pioneer and finisher of our faith. Praise the Lord, for
this Wednesday many churches will gather for midweek services, Bible
Studies, and prayer meetings around the world. We are hosting a community
wide dinner at the Church today... with serving starting at 4:30 PM and
concluding at 6:00 PM.
It is written,
"Faith, Hope, and Love abide" 1 Corinthians 13:13.
These three foundations of the Gospel are known as the Trinitarian
Tenants. These blessings and virtues are incarnated in the Person of
Jesus our Lord. Jesus has embodied them in His mission, in His
ministry, and in His person. It is written, "Christ in you the hope
Glory". (Colossians 1:27) Hope is not a wishful thinking.
It is more than a feeling. It is a Holy Conviction. It is the
presence of the Risen Lord in our lives, in our chaos and confusion, for He is
the Christ in every crisis. He is present in all our circumstances.
It is the bedrock of the Christian faith. Jesus is the dispenser
and giver of hope. When we place our lives in His hands, when
we surrender our fragile, confused lives to Him, He holds us and
hides us in the grip of His grace and mercy. He infuses us with His hope.
He magnifies and brightens our days when they are joyful and mirthful.
He, in His amazing grace and power, sweetens our days and lives that
can be stolen by the enemy, broken, beaten, bruised, even
bitter. That is power of the Cross and the power of blood of the
Lamb.
Viktor Frankl survived years in the Nazi
concentration camps. He noticed that many prisoners died just after
Christmas. They were hoping they'd be free by then. When they
weren't, they gave up. He learned that as long as prisoners had something
to live for, a reason to press on, they could
endure just about anything. But once they lost hope, they quickly died.
Dostoevsky said that "to live without hope is to cease to live."
Hope is the confidence that the
Risen Lord can and will do something good both in this life and in the
life to come. Whatever the circumstance in which we may find
ourselves, whatever pain, loss, or disappointment we may be dealing
with, our Lord, the Lowly Jesus, can do something good with it, or in
it. That doesn't minimize the pain or loss or evil of it. It simply
means the story isn't over yet. Our Lord can and will
meet us in that place, in that moment, and He is strong enough and
wise enough to do something good, something meaningful, something eternally
significant.
In this life, we can find joy, beauty,
forgiveness, healing, purpose, restoration, and the reality of God's presence
in our lives every day. In the life to come, we can look forward to
reunion with those whom we have lost, the restoration of all creation, and
eternal life with God and one another in worlds beyond our imagining.
Hope isn't wishful thinking—it's confident living. It's facing the future
knowing that God can and will do something good, both in this life, and in the
life to come.
I was thinking of Fantine in Les Misérables, dying in the home of Jean Valjean after living in squalor in the street. Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables to expose what he called three great evils of his time—poverty, the exploitation of women and children, and spiritual darkness. He pulled no punches. Fantine ends up dying of her illness, but somebody is there. Jean Valjean takes Cosette into his protection; he raises her, and years later delivers her into the arms of a fine young man. As Valjean dies at the end of a long and good life, Fantine's spirit returns to usher him into heaven. The musical version of Hugo's great work ends in a great re-union of all the characters, singing about a new and better day. "Will you join in our crusade, will you be strong and stand with me. There's a future about to start when tomorrow comes." It's a song of hope.
Victor Hugo had a hard time with the
church of his day, but he believed in the Lord of the church, and that gave him
reason to believe that good would triumph over evil, that justice would be
done, and that there was life and love beyond the grave. For 200 years,
his story has given the world hope that is grounded in the existence of a good
and gracious God.
Often in this life we encounter
countless blessing, incredible beauty, and unparalleled glory
and splendor. There are times we are in a head-on collision
with pain, massive grief, disappointments, and loss. The Good News
of the Gospel is that as we walk through the valley, grim and dark, Jesus
walks with us. He carries to shores of eternal bliss. Blessed
be His name. This life without Jesus in this world has a way of
killing dreams, but Jesus has a way of bringing them, and us, back to
life! Let us come to Jesus and live.
In Jesus the Eternal Lord.
Brown
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