“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His mercy gave us…a living hope…” I Peter 1:3

The word “hope” can sometimes be such a hopeless word because we often talk about it when we are at the end of our rope…when we’re afraid, anxious or uncertain about our future. But the real, living hope, that Christ’s followers have, is far different. It is based on the knowledge that everything in life and death is certain to end in victory.

This hope is based on the greatest fact of history…the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of it, Christian knows that the events of this life, including the sorrows and reverses, will never defeat us. No earthly circumstance can destroy the hope that the resurrection of Jesus gives to those who believe in it.

Our world is a world of disease; broken homes, racial tension and a whole host of private terrors, in short a world of death. But because Jesus rose from His grave, you can too, if you believe in Him. That’s the message of the Gospel. Just as Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter morning, those who choose to follow Him can rise from the sepulcher of their own hell-bound lives.

Have you had your own private Easter? Have you experienced this living hope born within you? If not, God is calling you. He is inviting you to look back over the centuries to the cross of Calvary and to believe that His only Son died there for you. Look at the tomb and notice it is empty. He is risen. Believe that Jesus has taken away your sins and that He will give you the fullness of His total victory. When you believe this, there is born within your heart a living hope and you will joyfully say with the Apostle of old; “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His mercy gave us new birth into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!” I Peter 1:3