Is there any hope?
Have you ever found yourself asking that question? I will admit that there are times when I have. It seems that things have got so bad, and they have been going on like that for so long, that it is hard to imagine there being either a way back or a way through. At such times, we can find ourselves asking, “Is there any hope?
I heard a good answer to that question, which could sound trite but is actually most profound: “Is the person still breathing? Is Jesus alive? Then there is hope.” What the speaker was doing was applying the resurrection of Jesus to our everyday lives. Jesus’ resurrection isn’t only something that actually happened in the past (which it is) or something that guarantees the future resurrection of those who belong to him (which it is). It is also something that has deep and far-reaching implications for our lives now.
The resurrection of Jesus shows us that death has been conquered, that our sins have been paid for, that Satan’s rule has been broken, and that heaven has been opened to us. What problem, then, do we think that we can face in this life that will be too much for him? Our problems may be too much for us, but they will never be too much for him. And he is the good shepherd who walks with his people even through the darkest of valleys. “In [God’s] 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).