Hope

Hope and a Future: Contagious Hope

2 Kings 7:9  “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.” 

When most of us think of something that is contagious our first instinct is to retreat.  A friend of mine this week was planning on coming over for a visit but found out that one of his daughter’s play partners tested positive for COVID-19.   We decided that it would be best to connect over videoconference just in case he was contagious. 

Tags:  A Hope And A Future, 2 Kings, Contagious, 1 Peter, Hope, Leprosy, Contagious Hope

A Hope and a Future: What did you Expect?

Jeremiah 29:12 “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.”

There is an old saying, “you get what you expect!” In many ways, what I do today depends on what I expect tomorrow. If I knew I would never lose weight, why would I pass up a cupcake today?  Why would I take the risk to reach out to repair a friendship if I had already been told they would be rejected?  Why would I scrape to make a payment on a loan I knew I could never pay off?

Tags:  Hope, Jeremiah, Abram, A Hope And A Future

A Hope and a Future: Hope When You Are Surrounded

Ephesians 1:18-19  “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” 

Right now there are signs that many Americans are running low on hope.  Since March: alcohol and drug use are up, pornography use is up, anxiety is up, and marriage problems are up too.  This is not the life that God intends for us!

Tags:  Hope, A Hope And A Future, Ephesians, 2 Kings, Elisha

A Hope & A Future

A Hope and a Future

Jeremiah 29:11  “’For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’”

In 2020 we can begin to wonder: Where is hope?  Sarah Lipson, a public researcher at Boston University writes, “The pandemic has unearthed so much uncertainty, and that is what anxiety is all about.  Likewise, students in the COVID-19 era might find it especially hard to think about the future, one of the hallmarks of depression.  There is a sense of hopelessness among young people.” 

Tags:  A Hope And A Future, Jeremiah, Hope