Hope and Light
Written by Trisha Winter
This week we talk about hope and light. As Pastor Mike stated, “we're a people designed for light. In this dark world we're called to be a people of light. Things may seem a little dark, scarry, but we are a people of hope.” In this blog I will be repeating a lot of Pastor Mike’s phrases from his sermon, due to the fact that they punch a huge impact on what hope and light are for us Christians.
What is hope? According to a Bible Dictionary, hope is: “trustful expectation with reference to the fulfillment of God’s promises”. “Hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.” Whereas the world's view of hope is: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. A feeling that what is wanted will happen.
Hope is an intricate part of our Christian identity in Jesus Christ. Without this hope, we have no faith and with no faith we only have darkness in this life. Darkness is over powering this world on a daily basis. As Christians we are challenged everyday by what is around us. We see and hear it everywhere we go. Pastor Mike said; “Remember this, this is something we can't discount, REMEMBER THIS, we are the first people in human history that can be reminded in real time of all the suffering around us by a device in our pocket or purse.” “This constant stream of darkness on these devices, “I THINK IT TAKES A TOLL ON THE SOUL,” in to that we are called to be a people of HOPE.” With all these devices it is even more imperative that we put our HOPE in Jesus. Hope in what God has done for us through Jesus and the Light that is to come, and the Light of Hope that keeps away the darkness of this crazy world.
What is Light? A Bible Dictionary defines light as: “Light is one of the Bible’s most complex symbols. Light is linked with instruction, truth, good, salvation, life, peace, rejoicing, covenant, justice, and righteousness, God’s presence and favor and the glory of Yahweh.” “On the first day, God created light which implies that light existed before the sun and other luminaries. God himself is the source of light.” The world's view of light is: the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible.
Light brings us truth, and the biggest source of this truth is the words we read throughout the Bible. God is our light. He gave us all a chance to know Him through the light of Jesus (John 8:12). Jesus showed us all hope and most importantly the light that we are all a part of. God's second act in creation was creating light, the light of the world (Genesis 1:3-4). God then separated the light and darkness. In our world today we have far less separation between light and darkness. Pastor Mike said; “the sun is so powerful that it doesn't need to peek up over the horizon before we start seeing the light.” Jesus is this light, the strongest light we will ever know. We don’t need to see him to see through the darkness of life. We don’t need to see him to have hope and faith in God through Jesus.
What is Darkness? A Bible Dictionary defines darkness as: “Used both in physical and figurative senses in both the Old and New Testaments. Darkness often has an ethical sense, scripture speaks of ways of darkness, walking in darkness and works of darkness. Darkness also symbolizes ignorance.” The world's view of darkness is: the partial or total absence of light.
Darkness is chokingly overwhelming at times in our lives. It is not always the absence of light that overwhelms us. But, the emotional, physical and visual darkness that we are all subject to on a daily basis. Pastor Mike said; “Darkness overwhelms,” I think this leads up to what Pastor Mike said before that “A lot of us become preoccupied with the dark.” This too is linked to the previous statement about the devices we carry with us daily. Darkness is all around us and as Christians we are pulled from death to life, from darkness to light (1 Peter 1:3). Our light is Jesus, and in that light we have hope. Hope and light go hand in hand, side by side, for without hope in Jesus we have no light for our Faith (John 1:5).
We are a people of hope, not just for ourselves but for those around us. We are called to be witnesses of Jesus and His teachings, those teachings and more all found in God's words. By spending time in God's words everyday we have a better chance everyday to pull away from the overwhelming darkness that surrounds us daily.
Call To Action:
Pray, when you're online in some form or another, when you come across something that is dark, take a moment and pray for that darkness.
Spend some time in God's words looking up the words hope, light and darkness and see what you find. What Bible verses do you see?
Think about those around you. Who can you pray for? Who do you think needs a little hope and/or light in their life/lives?
Questions:
How do you pull yourself out of the daily darkness?
What brings hope into your daily life?
How often do you look for the morning light (the sun rises)?
Bible Verses:
John 8:12
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (ESV)
Genesis 1:3-4
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (ESV)
1 Peter 1:3
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (ESV)
John 1:5
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (ESV)
