Still there remains Hope...the Wayfarer 1/3/17

Still there remains Hope
 1/3/17

“But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.”

(Acts 9:40)

Despite the fact that the disciples at Joppa had lost one of their own, and the widows were at a great loss, and sincerely mourning that loss of Dorcas, or Tabitha, described as being full of good works and almsdeeds; those disciples contacted Peter to come to give comfort in the time of that loss, to strengthen and verify their faith through his presence and through his gifts of the Holy Spirit.

They had hope. 

They had confidence that what had been taught was in fact the TRUTH. 

They sought comfort though wanting to simply hear more of and receive more of that TRUTH.

Peter, through Christ, gave them still more proof of that TRUTH.

 Take careful note of his actions that day.

He kneeled down and prayed! 

He did nothing on his own, but gave his trust to that Holy Spirit that had been given to provide that promised comfort left him by his own Master, Jesus!

Many sermons have been preached over the years based on the revival of this disciple named Dorcas, much has been made of the faith of others in her, and of her own faith. 

That faith was not in self, not in those around her, but in the TRUTH she proclaimed and followed with actions that called attention to that same TRUTH.

Jesus revived the dead, healed the living, and comforted those in need. 

His actions were proof of the fact that He was that Truth; that the Way He taught was a good and righteous Way, and that LIFE was available only through that truth.

Today, we mourn the passing of loved ones, bemoan the turmoil and trouble that besets the lives of those closest to us, bemoan the shape and condition of a world that seems to have lost that HOPE, and question why these things must be.

The why is quite easily understood when viewed through the perspective of one still retaining that Hope, though too many claim to retain it without accepting the TRUTH  that actually gives that Hope.

When Jesus was cornered by those Jews persecuting and seeking to kill him for preaching the simple message of love and forgiveness, redemption for repentance, what He stated is recorded in the 5th chapter of John:

“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto and I work.

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Then answered Jesus  and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these that ye may marvel.

For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father, He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”

(John 5:17-25)

Hope flees from those who are deadened by the teachings and allures of a world that is in denial of that very hope given through Jesus, His ministry, each word given us by  him, and through the blood given in sacrifice for those who did and do hear the voice of the Son of God.

Jesus opened his rebuttal to these leaders of the religious society with the statement that up until that point, God had worked on this earth, and continued to do so, concluding that statement that it was necessary for Him also to do that work.

He went on to state that all done had to be done through the will of the Father, as the Father himself would have done, and had done, not what had been contrary to that which was taught Him by the Father, but that which was in accordance with what had been given through the Father to Him.

In the continuation of this scripture Jesus said:

“I can of mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

(John 5:30)

Hope is missing today from far too many, because it is sought outside the place it is given.

Placing hope in the teachings of men, the things of a perishable world, the riches in that world, the science and philosophies of that world that hold no bearing on the will of the Father, is to place hope in the very things that created the death of that hope to begin with.

To find that hope, we too must first hear what has been already given, already spoken by Jesus and by the Father who gave what to speak to Him.

No matter the situation, no matter how dire and devastating, no matter how impossible it may seem, hope is still available to all who simply hear and obey that simple message of redemption through repentance brought by Christ.

All judgment should be left to Him who was given it by God, not assumed through the eyes of the osophies, ologies, and isms that propagate only the death of all hope for the future.

Concentration on the Hope given us through the Truth is still capable of reviving even the dead, both figuratively and literally.

When faith is abandoned, hope withheld, belief is suspended, and obedience is impossible.

It is only though that Hope, only though faith in the one giving that Hope, belief in the one whose solutions are given in the Truth of that hope, that any light may be found in a world darkened and dimmed by those in denial of it.

Marvelous things are possible in all lives, both physical and spiritual. 

Those things require adherence to that Hope, adherence to the teachings that give that Hope, and honest and sincere searching for that Hope given through the only Way to attain it.

Just as those Jews sought to kill Jesus for their perceived violations of their perversions of the laws given by God instead of the intent of those laws, just as they scoffed at what he taught, just as they refused and denied the hope that was given, both individuals and nations continue to fail to hear the voice of the Son, and garble the message given by him to meet their own standards of judgment, and remain dead to the promise of Life that is available.

It is time to open eyes and see, open ears and hear, to pay attention to the One whose judgment is just because it comes through the will of the Father.

Just as Dorcas was revived to life, having heard that same voice through Peter speak the will of that same Father, so to may individual lives and the lives of nations be revived, but only through that voice.

I close in prayer that that voice be heard, and carefully obeyed, and that what is heard will bring forth life, instead of the death that is chosen by far too many.

 Seek that voice; search the scriptures, to begin to understand it. Follow it.

Hope still remains!

I, myself, remain only that which I am, only that which I am given to be, a simple sinner, with hope and surety of Life, as given through the Truth, ever seeking to point out the Way to that Truth to others.

 I remain such because I am a simple sinner, but, one saved by the grace of God through faith, in the hope given only through the promise of the Son sacrificed to grant me that hope.

I remain, also as I must, humble servant and soldier in the service and cause of that same Hope, the promise of Life, as given through the TRUTH of Christ Jesus.

 

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)
¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen.
the Wayfarer