Those Who Give Us Hope
- Leah Hicks
- Jul 9, 2023
- 2 min read
During a Sunday morning worship service, I witnessed a daughter sing to honor her mother who had passed away just a few days beforehand. The mother had been a woman of determined faith, and she and her daughter were very close. Their family attended church together faithfully with mom and daughter side by side. From testimonies over the years, I gathered that the mother had played a significant part in her daughter coming to faith and helped make sure she was able to go to church. As I listened to the beautiful words of “I Can Only Imagine” and watched this daughter’s faith and hope shine amid her grief, in my mind’s eye I saw her mother’s face overhead. The thought leapt to my mind, “Those who give us hope.”
Who are these people in our lives? They may be our parents like this mother was for her daughter. They may be other family, friends, coworkers, or even strangers. God invests into making sure that we get home to Him by interlacing our lives with people who will shine His light and shake His salt into our world. Those who give us hope are the ones who tell us about Jesus, who stand beside us in trouble, and who point our faces upward and speak our names in prayer. They caution us against sinfulness, offer words of encouragement when the world is dark, and remind us we are not alone and heaven is waiting. Their love, example, and words of truth spur us to seek God and find our own faith in Him, and that faith grows hope within us.
Hope was on display that morning as this daughter sang honoring her mother. In the wake of death, she held confidence in God’s promise of eternal life and knew her mom had reached heaven. Her own faith, held largely as a result of her mother’s impact on her life, was firmly in place. Her mom had held fast to the hope found in Christ Jesus, and she gave that hope to her daughter.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58 NKJV:
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
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