Hope

By: Kathleen Ries-Jubenville   |    Read time: 4 minutes

I am a Christian.  This means I believe Jesus Christ is the living son of God who came to earth and died to reconnect imperfect humans with our perfect father.  I also believe he rose from the dead to prove to us our souls have eternal meaning and purpose beyond our brief time here on earth.  Why do I state my faith to you here?  Because it empowers me to believe I have a loving God on my side who will help me fight the battle against fear in my mind and I believe faith can do the same for you.

Hope gives me energy and enthusiasm to get up every morning to encourage and support other people as we share this adventure of life together.  I don’t pretend to have all the answers.  I also want to make it clear I do not consider myself perfect.  In fact, Christian faith is built on the heartfelt repentance of our mistakes and the acceptance of God’s unconditional gift of love and grace.  All faiths, Christianity is no exception, get distorted by self-aggrandizing politicians and religious leaders and other judgmental hypocrites.  I encourage you to look past your cynicism caused by these twisters of truth and take some time to explore the original testimonies of Jesus’ life, words, and values.  If God exists, you will have spent your time in no better way.  God promises if you seek him with an open heart, you will find him.

The New Testament of the Holy Bible describes in detail the life of Jesus Christ.  You may know that his death on the cross (a common Roman form of execution at the time) was a propaganda ploy by power-hungry, religious leaders because Jesus was speaking out against their hypocrisy.  He was angry those leaders were obfuscating religion for their personal gain and preventing people from enjoying an authentic relationship with God.  Multiple eyewitness accounts describe how much Jesus loved and valued every person.  He even called it the greatest command to love God and love each other.

Surprisingly, a story about Jesus’ followers - his disciples - had the biggest influence on my belief in his story of death and resurrection.  The people around Jesus were terrified when he was arrested prior to his execution.  They denied knowing him, ran away, and hid in fear.  I would have done the same.  But the story takes an incredible twist.  It says Jesus rose from his grave three days after he died.  It states he visited with the disciples for forty days.  He proved his identity to them by showing the holes in his hands and his feet where they had been pierced by the nails that pinned him to the cross.  This all sounds absolutely crazy to me.  But the next part of the story convinced me to take it seriously and consider the possibility that it was true.  The disciples didn’t hide anymore after Jesus ascended into Heaven.  They courageously travelled to many countries to proclaim the good news of eternal life and were often imprisoned and/or executed as a result.  They weren’t afraid of death anymore! I don’t know about you, but I would have stayed hidden in a locked room to avoid execution.  I’m a little nervous to share my faith so boldly here and I don’t even have to worry about imprisonment or death.  I sincerely believe Jesus’ followers personally witnessed life after death.  I’m just asking you to consider the possibility of a God who loves you so much he would send his only son to give you a message of eternal meaning and hope.

I am sharing this with you because God says in the Bible he will leave the 99 sheep to find the lost one.  You may be the lost sheep he finds today.  He wants you to know He loves you and you are worthy.

God has given you free will to accept or reject His gifts of love and hope.  You can tell God you believe in Him and accept forgiveness through Christ right now.

If you would like more information, please click on this link:  Eastside Christian Church.