Hope by Prudence McFarland (Advent: Week 1)

In the late 1960s, Ed Ames recorded a song that asked the rhetorical question: “Who will answer?”

The current affairs of the world might suggest the question remains. Who will answer our concerns about wars, finances, crime, illnesses, immorality, and evil?

In Luke 8:50, we read how Jesus told Jairus, father of the ill child that "Fear is useless. What is needed is trust” (Luke 8:50, ESV).

As followers of Jesus Christ, we find our trust and hope in the Divine Words of Scripture. Peter gives us several reasons for hope in the first chapter of 1 Peter.

1. God chose you before you chose God.

"To those who are elect exiles... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood." - 1 Peter 1:2

2. God always treats you with mercy.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." - 1 Peter 1:3

3. God has secured your future.

"He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you..." - 1 Peter 1:3-4

4. God’s power will protect you.

"He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." - 1 Peter 1:3-5

5. God is preparing you for eternity.

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 1:6-7

In this world of confusion, pain, and chaos, Jesus is our answer, for our faith in Jesus gives us a hope that cannot be destroyed.