Fields United Methodist Church

Day 9   Take Time to Be Holy

March 30, 2020

“For surely I know the plans I have made for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11

The prophet Jeremiah was in conversation with people who were taken from their homes and were living far away from where they felt at home.  People were needing hope, a trust in or expectation that life would sometime, somehow be better for them.  People need a sense of hope in their lives, a glimmer that what is happening with them today will at some point will be better. I enjoy road trips, seeing the world in real time. By the end of the day as the road begins to feel longer, my hope that a long day of travel is coming to an end. The long awaited exit sign comes into view and with it the affirmation of a long day on the road has led me to time of rest and refreshment. We need those signs of hope along the way, no matter the journey we are taking. We need to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, a ray of sunshine bursting through clouds hanging low and ominous. To know that the love of God always was, is, and will be with us offers hope for the new day that is ahead, giving us not only just another day, but a future with hope. Maybe God offers more than just another day; maybe God offers each day as an opportunity to come to know the eternal presence of God in our lives.  God loves you too much to ever let you go, and it is God’s grace that will see you through even a pandemic, loss, or anything that the world could set before you. With eyes of hope-filled expectation, experience not only a future with hope but a present with hope for the new day that lies ahead.  Bottom line; God offers you an amazing life for the living with God’s plans being “for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Having faith is wrapped up in hope, hope for now, hope for the future; it is the “assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen” that is the “yes” to the eternal presence of God in your life.

How does hope impact your life on a daily basis?

When was a feeling of hopelessness been replaced by “a future with hope” through Jesus?

How are you taking time to be holy today?

Prayer: Offer me the faith, dear Lord, to trust in the future you have in store for me; help me offer hope to those being challenged today.  Amen