Ponderings: sin

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Where Is Our Hope?

We are living in times of unprecedented stress. Our families, society, and world are in a constant state of upheaval despite our best efforts to restore control and stability. Many of us feel betrayed by our government, abandoned by our loved ones, and fearful of all the circumstances we cannot control. The stress of it all is debilitating and the burdens have become unbearable. Why is all this happening? Has God finally turned his back on us? These questions are as old as time.

Most of us have felt abandoned by God at one time or another. We have tried—and failed—to control situations we were never meant to control. Even though we might be saved, many of us find it hard to fully surrender every aspect of our lives to God and to give him control of the heartbreaking circumstances in which we find ourselves. We have become slaves to sin, believing that “if it’s to be, it’s up to me.” How arrogant of us to think that we know better than the One who created us and sent his one and only Son to die on a cross for our sin! How might our pride and failure to surrender ourselves, problems, and loved ones keep God from accomplishing his will in our lives?

The apostle Paul wrote, “We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, CEB). As a Christ-follower, he knew that his hope could be found in Jesus Christ, the power of God, and the truth of God’s Word. He knew that God can turn our trials into testimonies so that others may come to know him. He goes on to write, “We always carry Jesus’ death around in our bodies so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies. We who are alive are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies that are dying…So we aren’t depressed. But even if our bodies are breaking down on the outside, the person that we are on the inside is being renewed every day. Our temporary minor problems are producing an eternal stockpile of glory for us that is beyond all comparison. We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:10-11, 16-18).

“It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1, NIV). God only wants his best for us, yet we live as if we know better than God. True freedom comes from being fully surrendered to God.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:8-12, NIV).

Jesus is our ONLY hope! Will you trust him enough to surrender your life to Jesus, who died for your sins, and begin your life of victory through a personal relationship with him? He is waiting. He has promised never to leave or forsake you, but you must take the first step by inviting and placing your trust in Him.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

So Much to Ponder

People are pondering many things these days -- why COVID is still with us, why there is so much hatred, and why there is so much violence in our land and around the world. Recently, the Kroger store in my hometown of Collierville, TN, was the scene of a horrific mass shooting that resulted in the death of a dearly-loved member of the community and serious injuries to more than a dozen others. The shooter took his own life as he concluded his vicious assault. No one knows why. We are all still numb with shock, utter disbelief, and unbearable sorrow. Even though I no longer live there my heart is broken. I shopped in that store for fourteen years prior to moving out-of-state, and my son worked there during high school.

Many of us follow the news these days -- perhaps a little too closely -- and wonder what could possibly happen next? Sadly, something will come along to eclipse recent events and shake us to our core again. I find it all a little overwhelming, don't you? Overwhelming, but not surprising. After all, the Bible tells us there will be days like this. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 (NIV), we read:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God --

The stories and images just this week have nearly overwhelmed my heart -- senseless gun violence, border agents herding immigrants and refugees like cattle, battles over a vaccine designed to help us recover from this pandemic, and devastating wildfires started by a suspected 30-year-old arsonist. Where is the justice? Where is the humanity and compassion that we need these days just to survive and be part of the solution rather than the problem?

Lately I have had to deliberately turn the channel and listen to something else besides the news because the news is mostly bad. Mostly. It has been said that if we didn't have bad news, we'd have no news at all. We look for truth in media only to find none. Therein lies the problem. We are looking to the wrong source for the truth and good news we so desperately long to hear. Perhaps it is time to turn off the TV, put down the newspaper, silence the podcasts, and reach for our Bible. Most people own or have access to God's word, but how often do we actually read it?

In John 16:33 (ESV), Jesus gave his followers a warning and a promise which applied to those who followed him then and apply to us who follow him now:

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

This is not the only passage that deals with the troubles common to man, or the problems we face; there are many others. A quick look in the concordance at the back of your copy of the Bible will reference such things as money, sin, adultery, drunkenness, idolatry, injustice, slavery, murder, poverty, and depravity -- things we read or hear about virtually everyday through print and TV news, social media, and in conversation with those around us.

The Bible is also filled with God's promises of hope, peace, justice, forgiveness, redemption, supply, healing, restoration, and joy. But the most exciting promise for me is that Jesus will return to our wretched world to take his followers to live eternally with him in heaven, and heaven will far surpass anything we could dream of! In Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV), we read:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Those of us who have confessed our sins, professed belief in Jesus, and received his free gift of salvation -- his death on the Cross in our place for our sin -- have the blessed assurance that we are forgiven, that he has indeed overcome the world, and that he will return to take us home to heaven one day. Do you know Jesus as Savior? If not, I pray you will open your heart to him and receive his salvation. He loves you and wants more than anything for you to know the joy and peace a personal relationship with him will bring.

Life on earth is not going to get any better, at least not according to my Bible. But through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we can be assured that he will be with us in every trial we face (Isaiah 43:2), his provision will meet our every need (Philippians 4:19), and he will return some day to take us to the home he has prepared for us in heaven (John 14:1-4). Oh, the wonder! Just ponder it.