I was asked to lead a devotional time for my organization this past week. After sharing this again during our Coaches’ Prayer meeting this morning, I wanted to share because these two truths have ministered to me the past several weeks.

Christianity empowers believers and offers the world many things, but there are two I want to focus on: Certainty & Hope.

Certainty

This passage might be my favorite passage in Scripture.
Luke 1:2-4
“2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

You might think, “Don’t most or all religions offer some sort of truth claim?” Of course. But what Christianity offers is certainty. Luke writes to his friend, Theo, that he has interviewed, fact-checked, cross-referenced, and carefully investigated what he wrote to his buddy so that he can be CERTAIN.

There’s not a lot of certainty going around right now outside of God. And maybe it has always been that way and we have been deceived, but the world is yearning for stability. While we don’t know when we can go back to work, or if there will be a job for us in a few weeks, or if we will continue to be kept healthy — Christianity offers us certainty in the eternal.

Hope

Romans 8:26-28
“26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, becausethe Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Christianity offers us hope. Notice Paul doesn’t say everything that happens is good just disguised as something bad. That would be false hope. We’re not supposed to call bad things good.

And that’s what some people read out of it, but that’s not at all what is being written No. ALL things (Good and Bad) will ultimately work together for Good according to his Will. Even the most tortuous and difficult to grasp things WILL work for Good. One day it will.

This hope is not just an idea. The uniqueness of Christianity is that a real man, came down, lived a real life, died a real death, arose from a real grave. Because of Luke’s careful investigating, we can have certainty in hope in a real person, Jesus Christ.
He is our living hope.

Will Everything Sad Come Untrue?

It reminds of JRR Tolkien’s Return of the King book (Lord of the Rings) when Sam, the hobbit, finds his old friend Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf has died, but had returned, reincarnated into a similar, yet different being with a new power about him, Gandalf the White.

Sam turns to Gandalf and he says, “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! Is everything sad going to come untrue?”

Yes, Sam. For those in Christ, everything sad IS going to come untrue. Completely redeemed and restored.

How Could A Loving God Allow Suffering?

I once heard a sermon where the pastor reflected on a question he was asked by someone going through some immense suffering. They asked, “how could a loving, good God allow / ordain this suffering?”

The Pastor’s response was what ours should be: right in line with the Gospel. He said, “I don’t know why God allowed this to happen to you. I don’t know the reason. But I do know what the reason CAN’T be. It CAN’T be that God doesn’t love you. He sent His Son down from the comforts of heaven to live, suffer, and die for you.”

We don’t know what the reason is for the coronavirus, your job loss.
But, world, we know that it CAN’T be that He doesn’t love us.

What Does The Resurrection Mean?

And lastly, here is a quote I hope this sinks deep into how you handle the peaks and the valleys of life.

Nothing can happen to me in this world that they resurrection cannot fix.
Christ’s of past. Or our future one.

And that’s what Christianity offers in times of crises

– Hope; That everything sad will come untrue. (Romans 8:26-28).
– Certainty. (Luke 1:2-4)
– The reason what it CAN’T be for suffering. (The Cross)
– What the cross means for us on earth and heaven. (The Resurrection)

A Prayer:
Lord, help us turn to You and Your Good Word. We know we should not be comfortable with the thought or reality of death because even you, Jesus, wept at the death of your good friend, Lazerus. So we ask, Spirit, to comfort us with the certainty of the Word. And to give us a hope in a world looking for it. For us to turn to You, our Living Hope. Keep us and bring many into your fold through this crisis. Amen.

– J.W.