Focal Passage: 1 Peter 1:1-12
The story is told of a man in failing health that had been
to the doctor, taken all the blood tests, and received the ominous callback for
a consultation with the doctor. Most in the family had suspicions. And sure
enough, when the doctor came in the exam room, he looked at the aging patient
and said, “I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but it’s cancer. With
treatments, you may have six months.”
Nobody was really surprised, but all the family was stunned.
Questions swirled in every mind. How bad will it be? How much time do we
actually have? Can this really be happening? Shock, fear, and deep concern
registered on every face except one.
After several minutes of awkward silence, the brave
patriarch looked up from the examination table and started singing: “Because He
lives, I can face tomorrow.”
A deep, rich baritone voice carried the tune alone at first.
“Because He lives, all fear is gone.”
Then the rest of the family joined in one by one. “Because I
know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.”
All their fear died because of their belief that Jesus lives.
What a perspective! What a testimony! What a glorious God we
serve!
Have you paid attention to the truth in the words of that
hymn lately? No matter what we face today, tomorrow, or forever; we can face it
because Jesus lives.
We need not have any fear about what may come our way:
disease, poverty, war, persecution, joblessness, family trouble, or whatever.
Our life can be filled with a deep abiding joy that none of our circumstances
can eclipse if our perspective is on Jesus. After all, if He’s conquered death
on our behalf, can’t He handle anything else that might come along?
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39, HCSB). Our hope
lives because Jesus lives!
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