Jesus Christ in the UnBreakable gift of Hope!
God sent God’s only Son, not only to show us there is hope for us all. Jesus Christ came to us as the UnBreakable gift of Hope from God.
You may have heard of John 3: 16. In case you have not, here is what it says:
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. CEV.
God’s Unfailing Love Gives Us Hope
What does that mean?
The Scripture above is all about God’s steadfast love for humankind. God has never given up on us.
In spite of our brokenness and disobedience, God is always in search of the lost soul.
God is always seeking to find His way into your life. Not, just where you want Him to be.
From the very beginning following the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God has designed a plan.
And, this is the gift of God’s only Son. Out of God’s love for the world, Jesus Christ was born as a baby, and in very uncomfortable conditions.
Jesus’ virgin birth is something the Old Testament books talked about from Moses through the prophets. It was not an accident, which means that God had everything under control.
Let me ask you to turn to John 1 and focus on verses 12 and 14.
But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children … The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. CEB.
What these two verses above are about is how God’s unfailing love came to be in this world.
That is also our source of hope. It represents the UnBreakable Hope we can only receive from God through faith in Jesus Christ.
First, God’s unfailing Love became incarnate.
The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1: 14. CEB.
To make sense of this, go to verse 1 (still in John 1). John is talking about Jesus Christ as “The Word.”
It is “The Word,” being both God and with God, who will become flesh. Here’s a mention of Jesus’ birth. God came to us through virgin birth. We call it virgin birth because Jesus was born of Mary who was a virgin.
At the time of Mary became pregnant, she was engaged to Joseph. Also, remember, according to the Jewish tradition, she or Joseph were not supposed to have any sexual or physical contact.
And, the gospels state that Mary was still a virgin at the time of conception. See Matthew 1: 18-24 or Luke 1: 26-38.
As you read the Scriptures above, you come across two things. First, through Jesus Christ, there is hope again of becoming children of God.
For us to become so, we need faith and we have to choose to receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior (see John 1: 12).
Second, when we let God dwell in us, that’s when we experience grace and truth.
We experience grace because everything we receive from God is a gift. We don’t deserve it. God does not give it to us out our righteousness.
Everything we receive from God only requires faith. It is faith in Jesus Christ followed by inviting Him into our lives.
Faith in God through Jesus Christ gives us access to God’s grace and truth. We find grace and truth only in Jesus Christ.
Grace and truth set us free. We have already talked about this kind of freedom we receive from God through faith in Jesus Christ, the UnBreakable gift of God.
Freedom is from fear, anxieties, condemnation and guilt. Review chapter one, The UnBreakable Peace.
God coming to us through Jesus Christ has introduced us to God’s grace and truth.
God’s grace has allowed us to experience God’s freedom. That’s the source of our hope. It’s something no one can change or alter.
The freedom we experience, through God’s grace and truth in Jesus Christ, allows us to believe there’s more in life. And, that’s what we will be talking about next.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5: 13-14. ESV.
Watch Video Below
There Is More to Life!
This statement comes out of what John writes about the gift we receive from God through faith in Jesus Christ: eternal life.
Eternal life is something no one can break. Nothing can alter this gift. It is UnBreakable because it comes from God. Having this eternal life means we also have the confidence that God hears us.
What does eternal life mean?
Eternal life means that life is not just about what we see. Read the following Scripture from Paul:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[a] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4: 16-28. ESV.
Paul brings more light on what eternal life. This life, we receive as a gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ, has to do with the things that we do not see.
The things we see are the ones that get easily broken. But, the ones we do not see are hardly breakable. An illness can break your body or physical appearance.
However, it can only break your inner being if you let it do so.
In other words, we have no complete control over the things that happen to us. What I am trying to say here is, even though, we think we are the ones choosing what to say or do, the consequences of all that are out of our control.
Our hope is that everything that happens to us, God uses it as a way of preparing us for eternity. It does not mean that we all have to suffer as a means to spend eternity with God. No, that is not what I am saying.
What I read in Scripture is that eternal life starts now. It begins when you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. And, if anything unfortunate or really bad takes place in your life, it does not mean the end of your life. It is just a season of life you’ve got to walk through and get where God wants you to be later.
Eternal life also means receiving an imperishable inheritance.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. 1 Peter 1: 3-6. ESV.
Peter talks about eternal life as the living hope. He argues that it is living hope as a result of Jesus Christ rising from the dead.
This living hope introduces us to an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance.
Well, do you have an idea of what all this means?
First, what makes the gift of Jesus Christ Eternal and UnBreakable is that the gift is indestructible. This gift does not decay. It lasts forever.
The second thing that makes the gift of Jesus Christ Eternal and UnBreakable is because it never loses value and effectiveness. The UnBreakable gift of Jesus Christ is always fresh.
In other words, what people experienced in the first century is the same experience we also receive today through Jesus Christ.
It is also going to be the same experience people, in the future, will experience. This UnBreakable gift does not lose value and effectiveness. It is the same yesterday, today and forever.
And, that is the source of our hope. Jesus Christ, the UnBreakable gift of God, does not change. He is the same today, just as He was when He came to us in flesh. Jesus Christ, the UnBreakable gift of God, will come back again.
We will all see Him just as the disciples saw Him ascending into heaven (Acts 1: 9-11).
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2: 8-10. ESV.
You and I Are God’s Work
That was the original plan God had for humankind from the very beginning. God intended us all to be God’s people. Don’t get me wrong here.
God created humans to be like God in thoughts, words and deeds. However, our choices have broken that reality into pieces. It all started with Adam and Eve, our original ancestors.
They made a choice between God and evil. They fell for evil, which did not end well. It opened the entire world to all kinds of brokennes we are dealing with until now.
God did not, however, give up on the people He had created. That is the reason Jesus Christ had to come. God came to us, through Jesus Christ, in the flesh for our redemption.
Keep in mind that Jesus, the UnBreakable gift of God, had one mission in mind: to reconcile us with God.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5: 18-19. ESV.
There are two things you can learn from the Scripture above. First, God, through Jesus Christ, the UnBreakable gift, reconciled us to God.
That is only half of the reason why God gave us His UnBreakable gift: Jesus Christ. There is more to this gift we receive from God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Second, God, thorugh God’s UnBreakable gift, gives us the ministry of reconciliation.
The ministry is about sharing reconciliation we have experienced through God’s gift of Jesus Christ to us. That makes us God’s work.
Of course, becoming God’s work requires God giving of Himself to us through Jesus Christ. Also, we have a part to play in the process. We have to believe and receive Jesus Christ into our hearts.
Doing so, not only makes us children of God (see John 1: 12), but also God’s work.
Paul makes it clear to the Church in Ephesians 2 saying, this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (read verses 8 and 9).
He is talking about salvation we receive by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s UnBreakable gift.
But, how do we find hope in all this?
Read Ephesians 2: 8-10,
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
As I have said it in the lines above, you and I are God’s workmanship or God’s work. You can admit that living as a child of God is quite tough. Isn’t it?
We can talk all day long and even write pages (and books) about it. However, it is not out of our own works or self-righteousness being God’s work can become reality in our everyday living.
Even though God’s love for all humankind is unconditional, salvation, on the other hand, results from a choice we all have to make at some point.
God’s grace has been made available for everyone through Jesus Christ, the UnBreakable gift of God.
It is in Christ Jesus God can make us a new creation. God re-creating us comes out of our choice to believe in Jesus and receive Him into our hearts.
Once we do so, all the works God has prepared for us will become clear. You will know them and be able to walk in them. God will empower and equip you to do all that.
None of what you think God wants you to do in life will be painful. Everything becomes organic and natural. The UnBreakable gift of God will strengthen you to be and do God’s work the rest of your life.
Jesus Christ is the UnBreakable hope God has made available for you and every other human being!
In conclusion
God’s UnBreakable Hope comes out of God’s unfailing love, which is the plan for redemption. This plan is the only source of our hope as humans and Christians. By faith in Jesus Christ, we receive eternal life, which gives us access to what we never had before.
