1 Peter 1:3
“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.”
The tension was palpable; the fear was about to spill out into unrestrained tears. My dad held my mother’s hand as the doctor pointed to a spot on the X-Ray image and uttered the dreaded diagnosis, “Lib, you have a tumor here in your stomach and surgery will be required to remove it.” Mom had been experiencing concerning symptoms for a while but the difficulty in keeping food down over the recent holidays was what drove her to have tests done. Before that day in the doctor’s office, when she saw for herself the image of the tumor, she didn’t recognize her need for surgery, but suddenly it was obvious and so surgery was soon performed to remove it.
Prior to the procedure, Mom and Dad met with our pastor who helped my mother recognize that there was another deadly disease—unseen to the human eye—that she needed to deal with. When presented with the Gospel, a spiritual X-Ray revealed a God-sized hole in her heart surrounded by the disease of sin. It became obvious to her that the only way to remove the disease and to fill the hole was to believe in the resurrected Christ. Both she and my father recognized their need and were born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus that day. After the successful surgery, my mother lived for another two years, confident in where she would spend eternity.
Because of Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection, those who place their faith in Him can live each day with a living hope, confident in their eternal home to come. Are you confident today?
Father in Heaven, You have shown Your great mercy towards us by providing a living Hope through Your Son, Jesus. May we live out our lives in confidence that it is Jesus’ Holy Spirit Who now resides in our hearts. Where once we were empty, now our God-sized hole is full of Your love, peace and living hope. Thank you, Father, for the ultimate gift of love, Your Son. Amen
~ painting by Patricia Anders
