I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Living Within the Hope of God
Have you ever accidentally seen the end of a movie first? Knowing the ending probably shapes the way you understand the rest of the story.
Well, if you skip to the last few chapters of the Bible, you'll be skipping over a lot of really good stuff—but you'll also see how God will one day make all things right again. He will restore things that are lost, repair things that are broken, heal things that are fragmented, and ultimately make everything new. He will wipe away every tear and heal every broken heart.
That promise for the future should shape the way we live today. As Psalm 30:5 says, there are times in life that are filled with sorrow and grief. These are very real seasons that every person will experience.
The promises of God give us hope to endure difficult seasons. We know that even though things are broken and sorrowful right now, they won’t always be like that. One day God will restore things to how they are supposed to be.
As the Psalmist says, weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. That “morning” might not be tomorrow morning, or even a morning next week. But one day, God will come with a bright new morning in which everything will be just as He wants.
Until that time, we are tasked with living faithful lives to God while holding tight to the promises and hope that He gives us. Scripture is filled with other promises that God gives us to hold onto in various seasons of our life.
Take a moment to think of a few of God’s promises that are true for you today. Meditate on them. Let them fill you with hope as you follow after God.
A Gift Worth Receiving
After Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for almost four decades, the religious Jews were angry with Him. This may seem strange, because healing is a good thing, but Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath—the day of rest. In the Old Testament, God gave believers a long list of rules to follow in order to stay right with Him, and these rules included honoring the Sabbath.
But in the New Testament, Jesus was sent to change our relationship with the Father. By sacrificing Himself on the cross, He gave us access to a relationship with God—so that long list of rules was no longer needed. Throughout Jesus' life, He shows people the nature of this new relationship. But because it didn’t line up with what the religious establishment believed, they were angry with Him.
In John 5, Jesus justifies these changes through revealing His true authority. By calling God His Father, He shared that He was equal to God. This angered the religious Jews, but it gives us a ...
