Hope: Day 5
Despair. Webster defines this word as, “a loss of hope.” Few things in our lives give us such a powerful reason for despair as death. Losing someone, we know and love, in death is so cold and dark. And yet the instruction from Scripture is that we would not “…grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” While death is not easy and grief is a normal and healthy part of losing someone we love, we have hope that does not shake in the face of death.
What makes our hope stronger than death? Our belief that Jesus is risen. You see, if Jesus rose from the dead, then not even death can fill us with despair. If He lives in us, we will also be risen from the dead. Knowing that Jesus is alive today is the reason that not even death can make us lose hope. If He is alive, then we can know that anyone who dies in Christ will be raised up on the last day! Those who have passed from this life will return with Jesus upon His second coming! Even in death, we do not have to lose hope, because we have a Risen Savior! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Prayer focus: Remember those who have lost a loved one in the last year. Ask God to fill them with hope, even as they grieve. Thank God for a hope that is not lost even in the face of death.