It seems like we have had quite the year so far, haven’t we? It seems like just as we have been slowly emerging from ongoing COVID restrictions, there were the impacts of the floods on communities in Queensland and NSW, which led to more school closures. On top of all of this, we see the devastating scenes from the war in Ukraine.

Is there any hope in all of this? Hope is an interesting word. There is such a thing as blind hope, a desire for something for the future that you don’t actually know is going to happen or not. I’m not talking about a penalty shoot-out in the last minute of the game as you hope that your team wins the trophy. I’m not talking about checking the weather forecast every hour because you have planned your kid’s birthday party to be in the park and you hope you’re not going to get rained out.

But there is such a thing as a sure hope. A Christian author named John Piper speaks about hope being “faith in the future tense”. As a Christian, I get enormous encouragement in realising that God never left or gave up on his people, and it gives me hope in the promise that God will never give up on us today. We shouldn’t be surprised when life is difficult. God never promised an easy life but did promise to be with us through it. 

In the lead up to Easter, I am reminded that the biggest reason for the Christian hope is the knowledge that Jesus rose from the dead, he is on the throne in heaven, and that he promises that one day he will come back to restore what has been broken.

To borrow from Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Jocelyn Carolissen, Primary Pastor