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4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name"; 10 and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; 11 and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him"; 12 and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope." 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:4-13 NRSV)
"Driving into New Haven several months ago, Yale New Haven Hospital had a large billboard. It had a picture of a young woman with these words: "Diagnosis - Breast Cancer, Prognosis - Grandmother." This is a simple message of the hope that people are looking for. The Gospel of Jesus Christ offers even more hope."- Pastor John from CT.
Dear Reader, the billboards from some years ago had two words, Got Milk? Guess who placed them there? The milk industry, to sell more milk. Now billboards could easily ask, Got Hope? Some people do. Some people don't. In my years of ministry I discovered that in most of the cases of those who hollered and griped the most about this or that in the church, were exactly the ones I seldom saw in worship, and whom I personally believed did not take time to read the Bible, pray, (without a big challenge looming over them), read books about faith, and generally sought to try to live life with little to no God in it. I am sharing my opinion and it was not backed up by fact, but I suspect you know some people like that too. I'm not judging, just sharing some thoughts. I did know for sure, as a DS, which SPRCs had the most trouble, and those were the ones who never bothered to come to the annual training where most of their job descriptions were listed. Of those who called to complain about their pastor or a situation in their church involving their pastor, well, I had a list of those who had not attended the training and told them so
The passage speaks clearly that we have, thanks to those who wrote our Bible, words of hope and encouragement, so that we might have hope. To have hope flies in the face of desperation and fear. It is that hope that allows a hospital to share a future prognosis with a young woman that she will, Lord willing, be a grandmother even in the face of a scary diagnosis; that is hope. Hope, as Paul is describing it, involves living in harmony with one another, as shown to us by Jesus Christ, with the hope being that together we might glorify God and Jesus Christ. Paul further stresses that we should welcome one another, in the same way that Christ has welcomed us. And we have in Jesus the model of a servant of the truth for all people. If we would commit to living such a life, Paul believes, as do I, that the "God of hope (will) fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." That special word abound says a lot about who we can be. It says it may be tough today, or tomorrow, but a way better day is coming!
PRAYER: God of hope, joy, love, and peace, fill us for faithfulness and fruitfulness. May we seek to better serve You and Yours. Grant to us all we need to share hope with those feeling hopeless. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Live a life of hope in a contagious way.
Receive my blessings of hope and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
