My topic this Sunday is the last in the summer series on emotions. I’m kind of glad I’m ending with an emotion that is positive. I included hopefulness in my series because it stirs within us a driving force to keep going in life even when things look the bleakest.
Many people might feel that they have reach a bleak time, much like driving on a dead-end street. They can’t go any farther. They might reach a dead end in a relationship, with their financial situation, or their work environment. They would like their situation to turn around, but it doesn't seem possible.
We read in Scripture that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” (Proverbs 13:12). It is hard for us to live without any hope that our situation in life will improve!
This where the Gospel brings us encouragement by giving us hope. The apostle Peter wrote: “Praise 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.” (1 Peter 1:3) Jesus’ resurrection gives all of us the hope that something new can arise from what looks like a dead end situation.
Is there anything you are experiencing in life that seems like a dead end? Are you hopeful?
About Me
- Rev. Martin W. Pauschke
- I have been pastor at Savior Divine since July 2004. Prior to my current position, I had served at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Maywood, IL, and Trinity Lutheran Church in Runnemede, NJ. I graduated from Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, IN, with a concentration in musicology and graduated from Concordia Seminary in Exile (Christ Seminary - Seminex) in St. Louis, MO. I received a D. Min. degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.
2 comments:
You raise some interesting points here. It seems that every day - news reports of business closures, gas prices, job losses, home forclosures all lead us to feel the hoplessness of current economic times. Hearing all of this, and feeling the cost crunch, it is so easy to feel dishartened.
But, I have also in my lifetime, experienced joys and abundance. I KNOW that God's time is the right time. Things happen and don't happen at particular times for a reason. So, what am I supposed to learn from trying times...
Perhaps these life challenges are to remind us of the full circle of life, like the light and and darkness make a full day. So, what makes a full life... When we are hopeful, I think it means we really believe that goodness and ease will return at just the right time -- GOD's Time!
Thanks for the comment. Yes, we can be surrounded with so much negativity to the point that we really get depressed. However, as you mentioned,just as we look forward and know that the sun will come up in the morning, we have this same hope in God.
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