"3Praise 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, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These 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. 8Though 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, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls". (1Peter 1:3-9)
The Christian life can be a glorious, hopeful existence even though the individual may face war, famine, illness, and other perils common to human existence. We do not, necessarily, hope for God to bless us with earthly riches, nor do we expect Him to redeem His promises to us with earthly blessing. Our hope rests in the promise of an everlasting life near to God when Christ comes again. When under persecution, being put to death for their beliefs, Jesus' early followers died, gladly, a horrible and painful death which they could have avoided by denying their Saviour. They did so because they had seen and heard the Christ. They had seen His miracles which proved Him to be what He claimed Himself to be, the Son of God. To them Jesus was the center of their hope. Time has not changed anything. Jesus is, today, the center of our hope, both in this life and forever after: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Peace and love,
Sue
"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)
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