A New Hope

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Romans 15:13

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.[1]

 

Devotion

            There is in our nation today a mixture of hopefulness and hopelessness. On one hand we have new vaccines on the way to fight this pandemic, while on the other hand we now have over 300,000 dead Americans from the virus. At the current rate of mortality, we have 1 dead American every 30+ seconds. There seems to be no slowing in the current rate of infection. It will be awhile before we can vaccinate enough people to slow the spread of this dread disease. What the Christians response be to this situation?

            Paul prays for the Roman church that the God of hope will fill them with all joy and peace. So, they may have hope. “While it is God who provides the joy and peace, it is our continuing confidence and trust in God that enables him to bless us as he does. The joy and peace given by God results in an overflow of hope in the life of the believer”[2] The believers role in all this is simply to continue to trust in God.

            I believe these words of hope sent to the church in Rome in the distant past are meant for us today as well. We need to provide hope to the world because without Christ the world is a pretty hopeless place. How can we bring hope to a world so badly in need of it? We can provide hope by refusing to become fearful of COVID19. Going about our daily lives in the world. Following all the guidelines that the doctors have set for us, but not out of fear rather out of love for our neighbor.

            We need to learn to depend on the Holy Spirit to bring us into contact with the blessing of hope that will overflow to a hurting and hopeless world. The Christian life is to be an empowering presence in the midst of this pandemic filled world. The source of our power must be in the power of God through the Holy Spirit.

            So, let us bring “Joy to the World” this Advent/Christmas season. Because we know our Savior reigns and is in control of this old world even in the middle of a pandemic. We can trust in God’s awesome power to see us through this season of sickness and death into a season of health and life just as surely as winter turns into spring.

Prayer

O God of hope help us to live lives of Christian love toward our neighbors in this season. Send your healing down upon us as we seek to live in this season of illness and death. Help us o depend on you Lord, even when things look dark and grey, we know your love and help is only a prayer away. Teach us to seek your face so that we may live in the light of your glory every minute of every day. Amen


[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 15:13.

[2] Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 262.

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