Blood, Guts, Death and the Winter Blahs

Blood, Guts, Death and the Winter Blahs

Isaiah 60: 17-22

¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron.  Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones.  I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler.
¹⁸ No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
¹⁹ The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
²⁰ Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
²¹ Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever.  They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.
²² The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation.  I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

Winter blahs? An unbeliever once told me that Christian music is depressing, all they sing about is sin, blood and death. The crucifixion, blood atonement, sin estrangement, these are fundamental truths of the faith but are they our hope?  I suppose so in a sense, but I would propose that they are more like truths than hopes. The truths are the foundation of the conversion experience and are never to be minimized or forgotten but as with everything, once experienced we must move into further revelation.

Hebrews 6:17-19 ¹⁷Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ and nothing less. We were redeemed to dwell in heavenly places. Titus 3:7  So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. If the joy of the Lord is our strength it may be time we begin to stretch our spiritual muscles.

We are Christ’s workmanship, created for good works in Christ. Our hope should be reflected in our countenance and our daily walk.  We are not those who have no hope, we have the only hope for the world. Why do we hide our hope under a bushel? What are we so worried about?

In John 17 we see that Jesus is not of this world – we are not of this world, yet we affirm that Christ’s home is heaven and don’t see it that way for ourselves.