“the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel”
Colossians 1:5 NIV
Our message of hope from Jesus is the same and yet slightly different for each generation. The focus is always on Jesus’ redemptive gift of grace but how does that connect with the realities of each generation. Too often we only listen to our own voices speaking and not what others are saying.
One of the realities of Jesus’ ministry is that He listened. He listened to what people were saying and people listened to Him. He addressed the problems that people were dealing with not the ones that were assumed.
The Apostles would give of what they had to help those around them. Yes they helped those that they knew, because they got to know people around them.
What are the problems that people are dealing with today? Who am I in this world, what is my purpose in this life, relationships that are stressed because of money problems, despair eating away at people’s souls, bodies riddled with sickness, grief stricken hearts mourning the death of loved ones, just to name of few of the problems that are troubling lives of the people today.
Yet the ears that strain to hear words of hope are closed off because believing in the hope from Jesus is out of style in a world that arguably has the most knowledge than it ever has but has not been able to eliminate the problems that we all live through. However the good news that Jesus has given us while at times has been pushed aside, it is still the real and lives on in us and around us. The suffering servant and the king who is to bring justice knows our hearts and lives. We can relate to Him because He has endured all that troubles our lives and world.