What you and I have that is clearly different from someone who doesn't know God yet, is a future and hope. This is the result of what Jesus did for us on the cross and what his resurrection confirmed. You and I who have received Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and saviour, have been given eternal life! Has there ever been such a great gift as that?
We're in the holiday season in the run up to Christmas, lots of gifts (hopefully) are coming your way, but no matter how great the box of aftershave or perfume are, they pale into utter insignificance compared to the gift Jesus gave us.
Mans greatest fear from the dark mists of time has been death. The bleak emptiness of future, the seventy years or so that he's allotted and then nothing but darkness at the end of whatever he's been doing during his life. Everything, all money earned, the relationships formed, the love, the tears, the anger, the pain, all was for nothing... that is, until Jesus came to save us!
If you ask me, the greatest gift is Jesus himself in the form of the Holy ghost in our heart! Eternal life is a by product, if you like, of receiving him. It's a miracle that blows my mind completely, when I consider for just one moment what Christ has done for me.
The future and hope we are discussing today, is really summed up in Jesus. Until he found us and rescued us and cleaned our filth off, we we were, as I said before, in a miserable condition, with nothing having any point or hope to it. Jesus said this "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul!". Or again in another passage, "What can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
The truth is we had nothing to give, to buy our way out of the mess that fallen humanity had left us in. Our heart condition was terminal and death was the doctors prognosis but God said..." can these bones live?" Thankfully the answer to that question was a resounding "YES" as Jesus swung into action over our lives.
If I asked you has anyone ever been rescued and what did that feel like? What would you say?
I read a article lately about a man being held by terrorists and for weeks he was living in constant fear of torture and sudden unpleasant death. It related the near hysteria of fear and despair that he felt, culminating in the loss of all hope or believing he would ever see his family again. Fortunately for this man, forces on the outside of his situation were at work, and one night there was a sudden explosion, the rattle of gunfire and three men burst into his dark room, lights stabbing through the darkness to locate him. Then strong arms grab him and haul him out of there, past the bodies of his fallen enemies. The man couldn't adequately express his feelings of gratefulness, of thanks of the sheer unbelievable shock of being lifted out of that terrible situation!
This story doesn't perhaps wholly mirror salvation itself, but it reminded me of what we were trapped in.
Until Jesus rescued us, we were trapped by our captors and the tormentors of Satan's minions, but forces beyond us, when we were helpless and hopelessly lost without Christ in this world, were at work to save us and give us a future and a hope that is bright and oh so amazing!
Think a little about where you are now, and where you used to be, and let his life fill your heart with renewed joy and peace and hope at what he's done for you, and the realisation that your future is bright in him!