Hope sustains us when all else fails.
Hope gives us direction when the way is unclear.
Hope brightens the path in the darkness.
Hope gives light when the future is difficult to see.
We had no hope and were without God.
Paul reminds us that we were
Seperated from Christ
Alienated from Israel
And strangers to God's promise
These are the answers to the basic cravings of our heart. We crave a spiritual experience that is only fulfilled in Christ. We crave relationships that is best met within the community of God. We crave significance found in God's promise to redeem our culture and the work of our hands.
When these cravings aren't met we are lost, we seek to fill them with what we can see, taste, and feel (the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life). But this world will never be able to satisfy our cravings, and we were without hope.
The old nature constantly tries to pull us back into the darkness. It is alluring, but empty. The evil one tells us that the chaos in the world proves there is no God, but all it proves is that there is no hope when God is not in the world.
The evil one tempts us to believe that there is more pleasure apart from Christ, but in Christ all pleaser is more exciting because it doesn't seek itself.
The culture tells us that individualism and self determination are the bedrock of success, but without the community of God we are alone and isolated. In community we learn to love, serve, and care for one another.
I have seen the world in all of its ugliness. The veil of its delusion has been lifted. The darkness that prevails and the cruelty that ensues when God is absent has been made known. If God has not come into the world to provide hope, then we are truly lost.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." I'm just saying....
"Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Epesians 2:12
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