Hope for the New Year

By Pas­tor Daniel Stege­man – Stand­ing For the Truth, www.danstegeman.wordpress.com

Every­one needs hope. We might even say that hope is essen­tial to life. When peo­ple feel like they don’t have hope, they get depressed. In the most extreme cases of hope­less­ness, some are will­ing to attempt sui­cide. And while most sui­cide attempts are unsuc­cess­ful, sadly 5 per­cent actu­ally succeed.

You can make the case that there is a con­nec­tion between faith and hope. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is the assur­ance of things hoped for, the con­vic­tion of things not seen.”

When we speak of hope, there is a faith or a con­fi­dence that life is going to be ok, or even that every­thing will turn out for the best.

There is also a con­nec­tion between “the future” and hope. We don’t hope in the past, although we some­times long for the “good old days.” How­ever, while we can’t change the past, we can shape the future and our hope is con­nected to a “bet­ter” future.

If there is one time of the year for self-examination and reflec­tion, this is it. Peo­ple set goals and dreams for the New Year, with the hope of improv­ing their lives. For some, the answer lies in get­ting a gym mem­ber­ship. For oth­ers, it involves set­ting aside more money for the future. What­ever it is, we have high hopes attached to our New Years res­o­lu­tions. To be sure, many peo­ple don’t make any res­o­lu­tions for the New Year, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have hope for a bet­ter future. It is sim­ply found through dif­fer­ent means.

I like how Christ­mas comes right before New Years because it reminds us where our hope is found. Of course I am refer­ring to Jesus Christ, the hope of the world. Seven hun­dred years before the time of Jesus, the prophet Isa­iah said, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the gov­ern­ment shall be upon his shoul­der, and his name shall be called Won­der­ful Coun­selor, Mighty God, Ever­last­ing Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa­iah 9:6)

For hun­dreds and even thou­sands of years, peo­ple antic­i­pated the com­ing of the Mes­siah. Now, 2,000 years after the com­ing of Christ, we look back in won­der and amaze­ment at the mir­a­cle of the incar­na­tion, of how God became man and dwelt among us.

The Bible tells us that God brought sal­va­tion to the world through the death of his Son (Romans 5:10). Jesus became our sub­sti­tute on the cross, in order that we might have His right­eous (Romans 1:16–17). Let’s not for­get, how­ever, that Jesus con­quered death through His res­ur­rec­tion. As the apos­tle Peter explains, “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, to an inher­i­tance that is imper­ish­able, unde­filed and unfad­ing, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3–4)

Sadly, most peo­ple only have “dead” hope. They only have the hope of a bet­ter job, or a new car, or an early retire­ment, or some­thing along those lines. None of those will last. They are only tem­po­rary and one day they won’t mat­ter at all. In con­trast, Christ offers us “liv­ing” hope, both for 2012 and for all eter­nity (John 3:16).

Where is your hope found, my friend? The Bible tells us, “Exam­ine your­selves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test your­selves. Or do you not real­ize this about your­selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthi­ans 13:5) If your hope is not found in Jesus’ blood and right­eous­ness, then you will fail the test. It is my prayer that you will put your faith in Christ and know the joy of the Lord.

Truly, there is no sweeter thing in the world.

Merry Christ­mas and a Hope-Filled New Year

Posted by Guest 1 Columnist on Dec 30 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.