Hope in His Life – by Jill Windham

I have always loved the verse found in I Corinthians 15:19.  It simply says, “If we only have hope in this life, we are of all men most miserable.”

I’ve been to many funerals in my life, and this is a verse that frequently makes an appearance because of the comfort it brings.  It is comforting to think that this life is not all there is!  Heaven is a real place, where we will be reunited with loved ones, and where we will see Jesus face to face.

However true and wonderful this is, I believe that this verse is not only talking about eternity.  Can you imagine, if we only had hope in our economy, how worried and miserable we would be?  What if we only heard of gas prices rising, debt climbing, job loss, and financial ruin?  What if we only could see sickness, infirmity, depression, and pain?  What a miserable life that would be!

God challenges us over and over in His word to take His promises literally.  He says our economy is based on Heaven’s system, not the world’s systems.  He says we can live in abundant health and peace, though a thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand.  Our hope is built on the unseen, not the things we see with our eyes.

I am asking you to see the hope that God has provided us in Jesus.  Heaven will be wonderful, but we are here, now.  God wants this life to be a great life, filled with prosperity, health, and abundance.  So tomorrow, when you are reading the morning paper, remember… what you are reading are simply words.  We have hope that surpasses the reports we read.  Live in His promises.  They are all “yes, and so be it.”  There is hope in this life because of Jesus!

- Jill