THE HOPE TO COPE
By Pastor Timothy Burdick
We have just completed
what many in the world call “Easter.” It’s
not about "Easter eggs and bunnies, for it
is really about the resurrection of Christ,
which in the Bible speaks of many different
things. For example, it can speak of the
believer’s joy they can have through Christ
which brings an overcoming life.
But before I get to
that, I want to speak about hope, for when
the Bible talks about hope, it is not
referring to a wishful attitude, like: “I
hope this will happen,” but rather it is a
confident expectation that God will deliver
you. Job expressed his confident expectation
this way - “I know that
my Redeemer lives and that in the end He
will stand upon the earth” (Job
19:25).
In other words, we can
have confidence and stand in our darkest
times because Someone Wonderful is standing
with us. That is what the resurrection of
Christ is all about. God provides us with
the confident expectation that in whatever
we are going through now, He will Have the
final word.
A hope like this will
change our perspective, letting us know that
what we are going through, although hard, is
only temporary, with joy being the result in
our lives. This is the kind of joy that
Christ gives to His followers, which in turn
produces strength to face life’s challenges.
You can live the
overcoming life that we spoke about and you
can have it today - this strength produces
endurance to hang in there for the long
haul. I want to invite you to live the life
that God has for you, but doing so requires
a personal choice on your part. In another
place the Bible says, that “if
God is for us, who can be against us?”
(Romans 8:31).
Now let me get down to
what I call “brass tacks.” In my life as a
blind person, I have faced many challenges
as have you. But I have also found that when
I know that God walks with me, He and I can
overcome these setbacks together. And
so can you. Trust in Jesus Christ and place
your hope in Him. Just remember, it takes
hope to cope.
Visit Pastor Timothy at New Vision Ministries website www.mynvm.org
Visit Friday Study Ministries
www.FridayStudy.org
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