It’s raining, it’s cold, and it’s the middle of winter. School's closed so most of my work as a bus driver has vaporised in a couple of Covid 19 government restrictions. No-one is allowed outside the house after 8pm. I need a passport and a special visa almost to travel outside 4 miles or 5 kilometers from my home. The only justifiable reason for leaving home at all is to go shopping for essential food... Exercise for a limit of an hour... Get medical aid... Or work. But work is severely limited to a select few essential services.
I haven't seen my grandkids more than twice in 6 months. And they live less than an hour away. It is very tempting to get depressed and bored. To be miserable, frustrated, angry, and many are. The suicide rates in Australia and the calls to mental health counselers are off the charts.
But I have a home. Not everyone has one. Many have been made homeless as a result of these restrictions. I have an income. Some have lost their jobs altogether. I have food in the cupboard and in the refrigerator. Many are relying solely on food banks. Friends of mine run a food bank here in Melbourne and they are providing over 2000 cooked meals a week to homeless and others in need. And they are but one provider among many. I realise how very well off I am.
The old misery guts that was attempting to masquerade as me relented and relinquished sovereignty to my usual self who once again had hope!
As we look around us at the declining moral standards,the worldliness, the rampant divorce rates, (and that’s just in the church),and the crime, depravity and violence that pervades the world around us; when our personal lives are filled with health problems, marital stress, work related issues and financial woes, it is oh so tempting to allow ourselves to turn into miserable unbearable depressing sad-sacks that make everyone else’s lives as miserable as we think our own is, but we needn’t go there. Our time here is so very short. We have eternity to look forward to in which dwells righteousness and peace in the very presence of our Holy and loving Creator. We will stand before the very throne of God and sit at the feet of Jesus and look into the face of our Saviour in person. He personally will wipe away every tear, and make all the difficulties we are going through here a distant memory.
There is our hope.
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
A sure blessed hope of a resurrection with new bodies that will never die, never get sick, never grow weak. A Father who owns the entire universe at last able to dote on His children in person, never again to allow them to suffer pain or heartache or sorrow.
Ro 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Ro 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Ro 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
What a hope. So at times when this life is beginning to get you down, times when the days here seem nothing but misery and heartache, look up, because Jesus is coming soon!
Ro 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
I haven't seen my grandkids more than twice in 6 months. And they live less than an hour away. It is very tempting to get depressed and bored. To be miserable, frustrated, angry, and many are. The suicide rates in Australia and the calls to mental health counselers are off the charts.
But I have a home. Not everyone has one. Many have been made homeless as a result of these restrictions. I have an income. Some have lost their jobs altogether. I have food in the cupboard and in the refrigerator. Many are relying solely on food banks. Friends of mine run a food bank here in Melbourne and they are providing over 2000 cooked meals a week to homeless and others in need. And they are but one provider among many. I realise how very well off I am.
The old misery guts that was attempting to masquerade as me relented and relinquished sovereignty to my usual self who once again had hope!
As we look around us at the declining moral standards,the worldliness, the rampant divorce rates, (and that’s just in the church),and the crime, depravity and violence that pervades the world around us; when our personal lives are filled with health problems, marital stress, work related issues and financial woes, it is oh so tempting to allow ourselves to turn into miserable unbearable depressing sad-sacks that make everyone else’s lives as miserable as we think our own is, but we needn’t go there. Our time here is so very short. We have eternity to look forward to in which dwells righteousness and peace in the very presence of our Holy and loving Creator. We will stand before the very throne of God and sit at the feet of Jesus and look into the face of our Saviour in person. He personally will wipe away every tear, and make all the difficulties we are going through here a distant memory.
There is our hope.
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
A sure blessed hope of a resurrection with new bodies that will never die, never get sick, never grow weak. A Father who owns the entire universe at last able to dote on His children in person, never again to allow them to suffer pain or heartache or sorrow.
Ro 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Ro 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Ro 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
What a hope. So at times when this life is beginning to get you down, times when the days here seem nothing but misery and heartache, look up, because Jesus is coming soon!
Ro 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
