Category: hope

Today, If You Hear His Voice

Hebrews 3

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Having read the first two chapters of Hebrews, we have seen the author building up this case for belief and hope in Jesus as the Son of God. Now in chapter 3, the author is trying to bring us back to an example that the readers would have been familiar with to help us understand the necessity of our faith. He calls back to Moses, the prophet who first heard the name of YHWH, delivered the Hebrews from enslavement in Israel and performed many signs and wonders in the midst of the Jews (Exodus 14:31). This Moses that the Hebrews are so familiar with, who brought the law that they hold in such reverence, was faithful in God’s house. However, his faithfulness was to testify of the Prophet to come (Deuteronomy 18:18, 19), namely Jesus.

By conjuring up this image of the Old Testament prophet, Moses, we are reminded of the rebellion of the Hebrew people after they were delivered from Egypt. In only a matter of years, the people hardened their hearts and they were filled with unbelief even though they had seen the signs of God in their own lifetimes. Can you imagine witnessing the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of Cloud and Fire or the radiant face of Moses and yet still turn your back on the God who freed you from slavery? It doesn’t make sense to me at all. For some reason, the peoples’ hearts were hardened so that they couldn’t believe in God, even though they heard the voice of God.

Now this story isn’t just an example from the past, it is a story that represented the people to which this book is written. Many Jews believed that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah, but others refused to believe. Their hearts were hardened even though they saw all the signs and healings that Jesus performed. It is their unbelief that is their downfall.

I want to apply this story to today as well, while it is still called “today.” If I hear God’s voice, what will I do? Will I believe or will I harden my heart? I believe there are signs and works being performed today through the power of the Holy Spirit as it was promised by Jesus (John 14:12). If you don’t believe that there are still signs being performed to this day, ask a believer in your congregation if they have ever witnessed or performed a work through the Holy Spirit. More have than I think we realize.

The other part of hearing God’s voice today, is that the author of this book is re-presenting the words of God, the words of the Holy Spirit, words spoken Prophetically through David. This is the voice of God that you hear today. Encourage each other every day as long as it is called “today” (Hebrews 3:13). This should be your main takeaway from this passage. If you want to ensure that no one is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin so that they will enter into God’s rest (Hebrews 3:18), then tell someone the word of God today, while it is still called “today.” Speak the word of God in power, for there is certainly power in the word of God. We are given a message of hope that we can boast in (Hebrews 3:6). Pick up your phone and text a brother or sister in Christ and remind them of this hope. Get up and visit your brother and sister to tell them of this hope. If you believe in this hope, then let the whole world know and be a partner of Christ in his work of proclaiming the Kingdom of God (Hebrews 3:14).

-Nathaniel Johnson

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Who can I tell today about the hope that is found in Jesus?
  2. How often do I think about the hope that is found in Jesus?
  3. Ask a Christian, have you ever seen a sign or a work of the Holy Spirit?
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A Reason to Believe and a Reason to Hope

Hebrews 2

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

I love this chapter in Hebrews! It outlines the very reason that I am a Christian, the reason that I believe in Jesus and follow his teachings. It says in verse 2, that the Lord first declared himself. When Jesus was on earth, he taught in the synagogues and proclaimed to be the Messiah spoken of in the prophecies of Isaiah. He proclaimed himself to be the Son of Man spoken of in the prophecies of Ezekiel. We know that he did because we have the firsthand, eyewitness accounts in the first four books of the New Testament. Here again, the author of Hebrews is adding his account (Hebrews 2:4). More importantly than all of this, God adds his own testimony by performing signs and wonders through the apostles, and even among disciples of Jesus today. It’s for this reason that I believe.

Remember yesterday’s passage that proclaimed the great glory and exaltation of the Son of God. The author tells us to pay attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Keep that picture that he painted in your mind. The greatness of God himself has been given to Jesus. You have heard what has been said of Jesus from your friends, your pastor, from the gospels and from the Holy Spirit. Hold on to these things; cling to the faith.

In the next section, the author draws our attention to another psalm like in the first chapter, but this time, he uses it to speak of all mankind more broadly, not just the man, Jesus. God is so much higher than we are. We can’t even wrap our minds around what it means to be Spirit and dwell in heaven. And yet, God cares for us mere mortals. We are lower than angels in that the angels are in the presence of God, but it says that all things have been subjected under man’s feet. It’s clear that this isn’t talking about the current state of the world. There are countless things that aren’t subject to man’s authority: disease, death, hunger, poverty and all kinds of injustices. This is just what the author says in Hebrews 2:8. But we do see Jesus. And just like we read yesterday, everything was given to Jesus. He is the heir of all things and is made higher than all the angels. While Jesus was here, he appeared lower than angels, a man mocked and rejected, but now he is exalted with a crown of glory.

Though Jesus was the first to be glorified, he was the pioneer of salvation, he is not alone since salvation is available for all who believe in his name and we all can become sons of God, brothers and sisters of Christ (Hebrews 2:10-13).

This final section of the chapter is poetic and beautiful, but its real beauty comes through the deep truth and hope that it can bring to our lives. Jesus, though he was perfect and blameless, was put to death. In doing so, he destroyed death itself and freed all of us from the slavery of the fear of death. When you believe in Jesus, you are made free because you don’t need to fear death because there is life for all who are sons of God. We saw it first in Jesus. We saw him raised from the dead and ascend into heaven. This is the fate that awaits us as well. We can relate to Jesus in every way even though he is so highly exalted. He suffered temptation, suffering and death, just as we all will, but we have a hope for life that is to come, a hope that is true, because it was attested to us by God, through his son.

-Nathaniel Johnson

Questions for Reflection

  1. What is the meaning of verse 1? What do they need to pay more careful attention to? Why? Is it still true today? Is it still true for you?
  2. How would you explain Hebrews 2 to someone who has never heard of Jesus before?
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Preach It!

2 Timothy 4

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

A few of my children became very skilled at working the system: if I said no to their request, they simply asked Dad! It only took a few incidents for us to catch on, and from then on, my husband spoke an automatic reply: “What did Mommy say?” This, of course, would result in a frowning, drooping head as the child was forced to reveal Mom’s veto. “Then that is my answer too. We are one.”

As humans, we search for permission, validation, and affirmation from numerous sources. If we believe or want justification for (fill in the blank), we can usually find sources to confirm that idea, no matter whether or not the data are manipulated. Usually, we don’t even want to know the other side. 

I’ll never forget sitting in my college classroom as a nervous freshman, disagreeing with the biblical doctrine that was being presented as fact. Having strong beliefs to the contrary, I politely asked the professor a question about his belief that really didn’t make sense to me. Even though I believed his position was not true, I wanted to try to understand how he came to that conclusion. He was very polite in return, and we had a good dialogue as he allowed me to share my beliefs. I hoped that the discussion would spur my classmates to search the scriptures for truth as well, but my new friend behind me basically just said, “I’ve always been taught this, and I don’t really want to be confused with facts.” 

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul urges Timothy to keep on preaching carefully and patiently, always being prepared to correct, rebuke, and encourage. “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Though people will turn from their faith and seek affirmation of their erroneous beliefs and desires, He reminds Timothy to keep focused on his ministry and push through the challenges. 

I think Paul was aware as he penned this letter that his time in this life was drawing to a close. He pronounced in verse 7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” What a powerful epitaph! I, too, want to be remembered in this way, don’t you? Paul continues in verse eight the hope that we share as followers of Jesus, awaiting the Kingdom: “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” Keep focused on the goal, my friends. The challenges we face will pale in comparison to the reward waiting for us in the Kingdom. 

Though Paul was left alone many times, deserted by his friends and co-laborers, he did not harbor unforgiveness toward them, nor lose hope. Instead, Paul focused on the positive: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (verses 17-18) 

May the Lord also stand by you and give you strength as you continue to share in this most important work of the Gospel. 

-Rachel Cain

Reflection Questions: 

Consider your legacy, how you will be remembered, your epitaph. How do you want people to remember you, and what steps do you need to take to create such a legacy? 

What are some things that your “itching ears” want to hear? Are you focusing on the Bible and God’s truth to guide you, or the ways of the world? 

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An Even Better Story Coming

1 Thessalonians 4

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

I have always enjoyed reading the Chronicles of Narnia.  As I read them, I love to compare the story to what is written in the Bible.  Of all the books in the series, my favorite is The Last Battle.  I love seeing the old characters, the Pensieves, returning to the series.  1st Thessalonians 4 is describing the time when people come back into the story, just like the Pensieves coming back into the Chronicles of Narnia.


Verse 17 says, “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”  Can you imagine being able to see the dead in Christ?  There will be the reunions to loved ones and the meeting of the heroes of faith.  In The Last Battle, those who were still alive at the very end are excited to meet Lord Diggory and Lady Polly because they were in Narnia in the very beginning.  But, even more, they loved meeting their old relatives and friends.


While seeing the dead in Christ will be great, there is an even better promise in verse 17: “We shall always be with the Lord.”  We get to spend eternity with the Lord!  That is a great promise that we can look forward to the fulfillment of.  We know that when the kingdom comes, it will be a life beyond comparison.  A life that none of us will ever be able to even start to imagine.  


The Last Battle ends with these few sentences: “[T]he things that happened after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.  And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.  But for them it was only the beginning of the real story.  All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”


The lives of Peter, Edmund, and Lucy as they were written in the earlier books, with the amazing adventures in the land of Narnia, was nothing to compare with their life in the new Narnia.  They were beginning an even better book which no one on earth will ever read, where life just gets better and better.  We have this to look forward to where we also will have such amazing lives in the kingdom that they will be nothing to compare to this life.  There is an even better story coming that we can’t even begin to fathom!

-Kaitlyn Hamilton

Questions to Discuss and Reflect Upon

  1. What order of events does Paul relate to the Thessalonians in chapter 4 so that they will not be, “uninformed about those who sleep in death” (verse 13) ? Is this the same or different as what you hear at most Christian funerals? Could it be there are many today uninformed about those who sleep in death?
  2. What are you most looking forward to at the time of Jesus’ return? Remembering this, how will it change your day today?
  3. After telling the Thessalonians what they have to look forward to, Paul said to, “Encourage one another with these words” (vs 18). How can you do that today?
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Your Faith Has Healed You

Mark 5

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Mark chapter 5 has a lot of good stories but I want to focus on verses 25-34 where Jesus heals a woman who has had a sort of bleeding for twelve years.  Now at first glance this could seem inconsequential, as Jesus healed many people.  What stood out to me is the fact that she had it for twelve years!  That’s over four thousand days and over three hundred million seconds.  It’s a hard amount of time to imagine. I’m sure that it was a fact of life for her, like living in the same place for a long time. 

The chapter also says, “She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse” Mark 5:26.  So, over the course of twelve years she tried everything, but it only got worse.  I don’t know about anyone else but at this point I would have lost hope in finding a remedy of some kind.  But she didn’t.  In fact, she had so much faith, that when she touched his cloak, she was healed.  That to me is amazing! 

It really isn’t inconsequential as she lived this way for over a decade.  You see a lot of people being healed by Jesus but not as many who were healed by their own faith.  

I feel oftentimes this little story is overshadowed by his raising of a young girl from the dead a few verses later, and his casting out of the demons into pigs, but there is so much you can take away from these few short verses.  She endured twelve years and still had so much faith that deserves to not be forgotten.

-Philip Kirkpatrick

Application Questions

  1. Would your faith have been enough to be healed after twelve years?
  2. What do you believe Jesus can do for you? How will you show him that you really believe?
  3. Are there small stories that you skip to get to the big ones?
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NO Pit TOO Deep

Look UP!

Psalm 130

Friday, July 15, 2022 

                The comedic author Erma Bombeck once wrote a book entitled: “If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits.”  It’s a funny play on words using “the pits” as the antithesis of the good life.  The “pits” she’s talking about are not really cherry pits, those things you spit out after you have eaten the deliciously sweet cherry, but the pits of despair.  Webster’s Dictionary defines  “the pits”: “something that is very bad or unpleasant. You caught the flu on your birthday? That’s the pits! This rainy weather is the absolute pits.”

                You’re in the pits when things are going horribly wrong, or when you are feeling low.  You feel low when you are depressed, like there is something heavy weighing down on you.

                Psalm 130 is known as a penitential psalm (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143).  It starts out very low, “Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD”.  This person is in deep despair because they are weighed down by feelings of guilt.  They have done something terribly wrong and they are weighed down with the heaviness of regret.

                In the Bible there are stories of people who are down in the pits of despair who cry out to God.  When Joseph was taken by his brothers and thrown into a dry cistern down in the earth, he was in the pit.  When Jonah was swallowed by the whale (or great fish), he was in the pit.  When Daniel was thrown into the den of lions he was in the pit.  But each of these people when they were in the pit cried out to God.  And that’s what this Psalm writer does from the depths, they cry to God.  They cry for mercy.

                They acknowledge that it is only by God’s mercy that they are able to get out of that pit.  If God kept a perpetual record of our sins that we had to carry around with us all of our lives none of us could stand under the weight.  Imagine trying to swim holding a 100 lb barbell in your hands… you would sink to the bottom in an instant. 

                Psalm 130 is also one of the songs of ascents.  This selection of Psalm from Psalm 120-134 were sung by worshippers journeying to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God by offering sacrifices.  They would sing the songs of ascents as they climbed up Mt. Zion.  They would sing them as they walked up the steps to the temple bringing with them their sin offering, their guilt offering and other reminders of their need for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

                Notice as the Psalm begins they are “in the depths crying for mercy” lamenting that no one can stand in God’s presence as long as God remembers their sins.  But feel them rising up as they get closer to the top of the mountain, closer to Jerusalem, closer to the temple, closer to God.  There is the hope of forgiveness.  There is this longing for God, they are waiting with their whole being for God, they are putting their hope in God.  As they look up and draw closer to God they are literally coming up from out of the pits, out of the depths of misery and despair into God’s mercy and forgiveness into the arms of God’s unfailing love and full redemption.  They are being bought from slavery to sin and given freedom in God.

                So many people today, like this Psalmist, are in the pits.  The rates of depression are incredibly high.  A study in 2020 showed that 37 million Americans take anti-depressant medication (the numbers undoubtedly have gone up in the 2 years since then due to Covid lockdowns).  Over 100,000 people died in 2021 from opioid/fentanyl overdoses.  People take these pain killers not for physical pain but to try to relieve existential pain and despair.  Suicide rates are rising because people find themselves in the pits and can’t find a way out. 

                Psalm 130 says to them and to us…. Look up, there is a way out.  God is the way out of that pit of despair.  God rescued Joseph from the pit and  he became the most powerful man in all of Egypt and saved his whole family from starvation.  God rescued Jonah from the pit of the whale and Jonah preached salvation to the entire city of Nineveh and they were restored to God.  God closed the mouths of the lions and Daniel was rescued by God from the pit of lions.  Even Jesus was in the pit of despair on the cross from which he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as he took the total weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders.  God rolled back the stone and rescued Jesus from the pit of the tomb and brought him out to everlasting life.

                There is no pit too deep for God to bring you out of if you will cry out to him, look up and move toward him.  Ascend from the depths of despair to God’s mercy and forgiveness and true life through faith in Jesus Christ.

-Jeff Fletcher

Reflection Questions:

1.        When was a time that you were in the pits?  How did God help you out of that pit?

2.       If you’ve experienced God’s saving hand in the pit, who can you share that hope with to help them out of the pit?

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The Love Chapter

1 Corinthians 13

June 14

“Now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”

“They” call 1 Corinthians 13 “the love chapter”.  It’s quoted from at most weddings.  So what is it talking about?  I don’t think it is a coincidence that Paul discusses love and speaking in tongues (a gift involving the ability to speak unique languages), in the same chapter.  Love is difficult to put into words.

In my work as a Funeral Director and Deputy Coroner, I am often at a loss for words.  I frequently have opportunity to speak with families when there is nothing to say.  Nothing that should be said, anyway.  That certainly doesn’t stop some people from trying.  I’ve heard people say all kinds of stuff to try to comfort the grieving.  Most of it, frankly, has no basis in scripture or reality.  Sometimes I wish I had a platitude and cliché bingo card I could pull out of my pocket and shout “BINGO!”.  About the only right thing to do in that situation is nothing at all. 

My father-in-law is a pastor and has served as Chaplain for a local fire department for a number of years and he recently commented during a sermon about how in most situations when the fire department is needed, if the crew showed up and just stood there people would say “Don’t just stand there, DO SOMETHING!” But when it comes to the work of a fire chaplain, the best approach is “Don’t do something, JUST STAND THERE!”  I liked that line.  I have stolen it and shared it with coworkers several times.  When a person has lost everything they don’t need a preacher, they need a presence.  To be able to just be present, is a gift.  (Do you see what I did there?).

As Christians, being confronted with a sudden and unexpected death is like being the pilot in charge of an airplane when the engines stall.  All that is really left at that point is faith, hope and love.  What words of comfort can you give when you know that a person did not have faith in Jesus Christ?  What chapter of systematic theology will you turn to for the family who has no hope in The coming Kingdom?

I said before, our dog is named Zippers due to her urge to chew on our coat zippers.  If we named our children using that method, one of my sons might have been named “Whacko”.  He has always liked to “whack” things with sticks.  When he was two years old we bought him a Sesame Street drum set for Christmas.

It was a pretty cool toy.  It came with a little stool to sit on.  It had a pedal for the bass drum.  It is hard to see in this picture, but there was even a tiny metal cymbal.  Man, did he love to whack that thing!

I honestly don’t know what ever happened to that drum set but I have a feeling it found its way to “a better place”.  The place where all the noisy toys end up.  You know the toys I’m talking about- the Jack in the boxes, the little microphones with the spring inside that toddlers yell…I mean sing into, the Fisher Price Pop “Corn Poppers” that aunts and uncles buy for their nephews as revenge for the year you wrapped up too many candy canes… We’ve all had noisy toys like that.             

Those noisy toys are exactly what I picture when I read 1 Corinthians Chapter 13.  To paraphrase, Paul says all of those gifts of the spirit we just talked about in the last chapter are great.  I’d really like for you to have ‘em, but in the end all that really matters is faith, hope and love.  Of those three qualities, if you only have room for one, choose love because when the rubber hits the road, what people need to know is that God loves them more than anyone has ever loved them.  All the rest is just noise.

-Brian Froehlich

Application questions:

  1. What is the noisiest toy you had as a child?
  2. What is the “noisiest” thing in your life right now?
  3. Have you ever had a friend who was just silently present with you when you needed them? 
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Object Permanence

John 16

April 13

Object permanence is a milestone babies hit when they begin to understand that an object still exists when they can’t see or hear it. When their mother leaves the room, she still exists; when their favorite toy is hidden under a blanket, it still exists, too. 

Object permanence is a skill Jesus reinforced in his disciples on their final night together, before his arrest and subsequent death. 

Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me” (John 16:16).

The disciples mourned Jesus’ death, and they rejoiced at his resurrection just three days later. Even though they could not see Jesus, he wasn’t gone forever. Just like a baby’s favorite toy hidden under a blanket, Jesus was merely out of sight for a little while. 

You and I have never seen Jesus, yet the disciples’ hope is our hope, too. We can’t see Jesus now, but we will someday—when he brings his Father’s Kingdom down to Earth. We have faith that even though we cannot see him, he is real and he is working. After all, faith is the certainty of the things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). 

Although we’ve never seen Jesus, we can see the impact of his life all over our own lives—the freedom of forgiveness, peace in unfathomable situations, victory over temptation and sin. 

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). 

We have the same hope as the disciples. We can’t see Jesus now, but we will soon. 

Jesus is coming soon. 

We will see Jesus face to face. 

-Mackenzie McClain

Discussion Questions: 

  1. Even though you’ve never seen Jesus, have you seen evidence of his existence in your life? How so? 
  2. How would you live your life differently if you were constantly reminded of Jesus’ coming return? 
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“Why, God?”

Habakkuk 1 – 3

One widely assumed fallacy about Christianity is that once you choose to follow God, all of your problems will just go away.  Habakkuk wasn’t that kind of believer, and we shouldn’t be either.

Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah – living at a time when things were really bad for Judah.  He loved the Lord with all his heart, and longed for justice.  But he saw only violence and injustice wherever he turned.  He had some complaints, and took them to the right place – to God.

In Habakkuk 1:2, Habakkuk complained, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “violence!” but you do not save?”

In Habakkuk 1:3, he complained, “Why do you tolerate wrong…?”

Then in Habakkuk 1:13, he complained, “…Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

His basic complaint was, “God, I’m pouring my heart out to you in prayer, why don’t you do something?”  And “Why do you let the wicked persecute those more righteous than themselves?”  As we pointed out yesterday from 2 Peter 3:9, the answer may be that God is just being patient, wanting to give people as much time as possible to repent, before he steps in and judges.  And from Romans 3:10-12, we recognize there is no one that is righteous, no one who does good, not even one.

In God’s response to Habakkuk in 2:2-3, God said, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end.”  Then God gave a series of 5 “woe”s.  God was reminding Habakkuk that eventually, God will punish the wicked, but until then, Habakkuk needed to be patient and trust God.

I love Habakkuk’s response in Habakkuk 3:17, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  

This ties into our Revelation 12 reading for today, where we read in Revelation 12:17, “Then the dragon went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”  For the last 3.5 years of this evil age, Satan will try to annihilate the Jews, but God will miraculously protect them.  So Satan will vent his wrath against Christians.

As Christians, there may come a time when we cry out to God, “Why don’t you answer my prayers?  Why do you let the wicked persecute those more righteous than themselves?”  But no matter how bad it gets, we need to have the same response as Habakkuk.  “Even though it appears that there is no hope, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Habakkuk 1-3 and Revelation 12

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What We Will Be

1 John 3

I John 3:2 reads in part, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and It has not appeared as yet what we will be….”   It has not appeared as yet what we will be.  I am now in my 50’s.  If you are my age or older, you have had the pleasure to watch the kids around you grow up.  When they were little, it was hard to imagine what they would become as adults.  Some of those little kids that I knew many years ago have grown into wonderful adults.  Even some of those irresponsible teenagers have done well for themselves.  Some have become doctors, nurses, professionals, experts in their field, responsible caring parents, teachers and business owners.  All I can say is “Wow.”  This was hard to imagine when they were very young.  “It has not appeared as yet what we will be…”  We can’t yet imagine what we will become. 

Of course, the 1 John 3:2 also adds, “…we know that when He appears , we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”  This describes the transformation that we will experience at the return of Christ.  One day we will find ourselves in the very image of Christ. 

However, in the meantime, what will you become?  How will you change and grow?  John’s words here are hopeful and optimistic.  It has not appeared as yet what we will be…  The possibilities are great.  God, in Christ, has put you on a road to growth and transformation and new discoveries.  You will face joys and sorrows.  You will suffer.  You will be challenged.  You will be tempted.  You will have victories and defeats.  Yet, the Lord is leading you to Him.  It has not appeared as yet what we will be.  So, go out and discover and find that very thing.  Become the person that God has created you to be.  Grow into the image of Jesus Christ.

-Pastor Scott Deane

You can read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Hosea 3-4 and 1 John 3

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