Blessed Hope

Today a new year dawns as one fades into history. Since we can visit Two Thousand and nine only in memory we begin to focus our eyes on the horizon of Twenty Ten. What does the horizon look like to you?

We can't help but wonder what this year will hold. For some, this may be a time of trembling, for others one of expectancy. Some will shut their eyes to the present and choose to dream of yesterday, while others will eagerly fasten their hopes on tomorrow and rush forward to meet the new day. Regardless of your feelings, the rushing river of time carries us all along, either as willing passengers or reluctant prisoners. It is up to us, then, to choose how we will ride this current.

We all have choices to make. For many, these choices are expressed in the form of new years resolutions. They seem strong at first but with a couple months of wear and tear they disintegrate like ropes of sand. The fact is that for all our determination and struggling we will still end up down stream. The current is stronger than any of us. Anything we reach for, no matter how stable it looks, if it's also in the water, it shares our destination. None of us knows for sure what lies around the next bend but we can be sure that there will be rapids and waterfalls, boulders and eventually the depths of the ocean.

So what should we do? What choices do we really have?

If we don't want our journey to end at the ocean we only have one choice. We must reach for support that is not bound by the water.

God is the only one that is not limited by time. He always was and forever will be. He can look into the future and see around the bend. He is not caught up in the current of time and is the only One who can safely guide us in our journey. God has promised not that He will take us out of the water but that He will guide us through the water. Just as He held Noah's ark above the seething waves and brought it safely to rest upon the mountain, He can and will carry us to safety. We have a bumpy ride ahead of us, we will occasionally swallow some water or crash into a rock. We may get scraped and bruised and experience cold. But if we cling to Him, we will have safe passage to the ocean and upon reaching it our journey will just begin.

What do I mean by the ocean? Time will someday end for each of us, either at the end of our life or at the end of this world. For some that is a scary thought filled with unknown shadows. But for those who journey with God there is no fear, only blessed hope. For their hope is not placed upon the things of this earth. Their hope is hid in God and He will never fail His children.

What does the horizon look like to me? I am looking for the blessed hope of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am looking for His return. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1Th. 4:17 ) Jesus told His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2,3)

In the last book of the Bible, Jesus declares, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Rev. 22:13,14)

God is not slack concerning His promises. We have a home beyond the realm of time. A place built just for us without the pain and trials of earth. "And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." ( See Rev. 22:2-8 Rev. 21:2-7; Rev. 21:11-19)

This is what I see on the horizon friends. The signs of His appearing as outlined in scripture are daily being fulfilled. We don't have long to wait. But there is much to be done in preparation.

As we enter this new year, my prayer for all of us, dear friends, is that we will fix eyes not on the horizon of 2010 but rather on the horizon of eternity.

God bless you all.
Bonnie Morsette~1/01/2010