Hope Misplaced

12082015 Bringing it home

Sunday the Pastor wrapped up his sermon on “The Thrill of Hope” with the question, “What is it that you stress about? What do you fear? Perhaps that is where your hope is, rather than in the miracle of Jesus.”  Emmanuel is God with us; the infant King who came from heaven to earth to be our Redeemer, our Restorer, our Hope. Yet it seems so easy to fall into the trap of putting all our faith in our own ability to provide for ourselves; to control our environment; to align our life just the way we planned.

Another wonderful conversation with my dad this week led me down the same path that the Pastor sent us on Sunday. He talked about the hope we have in Jesus, “When we truly deserved another flood, God gave us a baby. Over and over again we fail to live up to who He created us to be. We don’t walk in step with Him; we seek our will over His; we don’t listen; don’t obey. Yet, in spite of our wickedness, He didn’t destroy the world, but gave us the gift of a baby King that was born in a barn to unlikely parents of royalty. A baby that would forever bring hope to the world.

Babies are God’s way of saying there is HOPE. There is reason to believe that we can get this right. They bring us new beginnings. Babies bring joy. We have had a large crop of babies born in our church family in the past few months and more are coming in 2016. What a blessing it is to hold them and love them and teach them they are loved by the One who created them. What an honor it is to introduce them to Emmanuel, God with us. What a privilege to teach them that there is HOPE.

I encourage you to take a look at where you are placing your hope. Your job? Your paycheck? Your skills? Your health? Your talent?  Your family? Here is the thing you need to know… your kids can see it and are learning where to place their hope by watching you. Take a step in the right direction and shift your Hope to the One who cannot fail and have a Merry, Hope-filled, Christmas!