Our Hope In Jesus Christ

This is the first Sunday of the Advent season when we believers in Jesus Christ prepare hearts to celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ.  The world has been cast in a shadowy land of darkness and despair.  Fear and anxiety seem to plague the deep recesses of the human mind and heart.  When we look around us we see people who feel angry and full of worry for the future.  There are many people in our world today that feel hopeless.   We can see it written on the expressions of people's faces that we encounter each day.

The good news for you and myself and also for the whole world is there is indeed hope.  We have hope in Jesus Christ.  He is the hope that we need and that the world needs.  God demonstrated His great love for us by sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to come to earth as a baby placed in a manger.  Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life.  He went obediently to the Cross where He laid down His life for our sins.  Jesus shed His blood for our sins and for the sins of the whole world.

God didn't stop there, but He raised Jesus from the dead on the third day to show that He is indeed God.  The Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and one Day He will return as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  The Lord didn't leave us as orphans, but He gives the Holy Spirit to indwell everyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Jesus is our hope for salvation and forgiveness of our sins.  Jesus is our living hope.  There is no other way to obtain forgiveness of our sins except through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Not one of us is good enough to obtain entrance into Heaven on our own.  We need a Savior and there is only One that saves and that is Jesus Christ. 

We must realize that we can not save ourselves and that all have sinned and have fallen short of God's high standards.  We must come to the Lord with a humble heart and we must come repenting of our sins.  We need to receive His forgiveness and eternal life.  We can receive it only by coming to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we can do that by faith and faith alone.

There is hope for each one of us.  There is hope for this world that we live in.  There is a light that has come into this world of darkness.  That light is Jesus Christ.  May His light shine through you as you put your faith and trust in Him. 

I pray that as you prepare your heart during this Advent season that you would remember that there is hope in Jesus Christ.  There is hope of salvation and an eternal Home in Heaven with Him when we leave this world.  We also have hope everyday because He promises to never leave us and never to forsake us as we walk through this dark and lonesome world.

Let us focus on the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Lord,
Thank You for the hope we have in Jesus Christ.  Thank You for Your love and mercy and Amazing grace.  Lead us by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.