I felt the same this week.
With all the price hikes, economic turmoil, and insanity happening around, like shootings — I was troubled.
I must admit that I worry more for my children and loved ones as every parent would. What would the future be for them? Will they have a better life? And most importantly, I asked: “if the world is going to a dark future, will they (my children) keep the faith? Will they stand firm with our Father, YWHW, through Jesus, our messiah?
Do you lately feel the same?
Bombarded by endless propaganda of bad news on the Internet wherever you go, I have to look for an alternative. I need good news instead of the usual rubbish.
The Bible: the source of all good news
Yes, the Bible is the source of all good news if we look at it from a different perspective. Suppose we remove our religious lenses and look at the Bible passages using our naked eye. From beginning to end, it speaks and prophesies God’s love and intention of saving His people, especially at the end of days when things will worsen.
Luke 24:37-39 speaks about Jesus, who appeared to His disciples.
37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:37-39)
These words, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” have given me a sense of hope and strength.
I was too worried about a future where I missed an essential element. God and His love for those who believe in him.
It reminds me of the words: ” For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8).
Have you ever tried to take on the world with your own might at one point in time? How did it go? Did it go well?
On the other hand, were you so down like you’ve hit bottom that your only recourse was to surrender to God’s will and beg for his mercy and generosity? How did it go?
Precisely, your mundane problems may not have been resolved. Or they might have been miraculously revolved. Yet the most important experience was that sense of FREEDOM, that deep inner peace. That sense of being loved and looked after by someone who has the world in His hands.
That sense of knowing that all were just mundane and trivial concerns; and that we’ve found what is essential in life: our relationship with our creator, our God, our Father, YHWH.
To you, my brother/sister: I hope you, too, are reminded of God’s tremendous love for you in your life.
Like me, I was troubled and in doubt simply because I forgot to believe God has always been with me.
He had been with me in the past. He is with me (as well as with my loved ones) at present. And he will be with me down to all my succeeding generations in the future.
God’s love for us is so great that we might be unable to comprehend it. Yet every decent father knows how much it hurts to give up a son/daughter to die for a country, a cause, or a belief.
Therefore, God showed tremendous love for us when he allowed His only son to die for us in a humiliating, cruel way.
Our challenge for the week
- In faith, let us stay strong.
- In faith, let us know that God will be with us even in the darkest future.
- In faith, let us claim that VICTORY he promised to us through Jesus, His son, our messiah, and our King.
Jesus once died simply to save us.
He will return to destroy the enemy once and for all where our Father, YHWH, may dwell with us in this new Heaven and earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.[c] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-8
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”