Like a bubble bursting through the calm surface of a pond, faith always rises to the surface.  Faith rises because faith is based on hope, and hope is like the air in a bubble.  Hope forces faith to rise from the ashes.  Hope forces faith to burst through the surface hiding the tumultuous struggles at the bottom of our hearts.  Faith pops up in bizarre places.  Many of them are dark, desperate places where all hope seems gone.
          Absolutely nothing can separate us from Christ’s love.  Though we doubt, God’s power is unwavering.  Though we question, God’s truth remains.  Though we grieve, the power of Christ brings comfort and healing.  God reveals Himself this way because in Christ we have LIVING hope, not DEAD hope.  “In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3).   I often think about the three dark days when the world of the disciples had fallen apart.  Jesus had literally surrendered to the Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers.  Judas Iscariot gave Him the kiss of “a friend” in the Garden of Gethsemane, the winepress.  The disciples just days before had promised that they would never leave or forsake their Master.  And then with a betrayer’s kiss, a few Roman swords, and the pitch of night, they all scatter like balls broken on the pool table. Those were dark days, full of grief and bitterness.   Jesus was emotionally humiliated as the soldiers platted a crown of thorns on His head and derisively cried out, “Hail, the King of the Jews!”  As the disciples cowered in the darkness of fear, little did they know that in the deepest and darkest moment of death in human history, the power of faith would pop up to the surface.  In the dungeon of death, the resurrection popped up—unstoppable. 
          Jesus rose gloriously from the grave on the third day, casting aside the power of sin, death, hell and the grave.  Jesus rose from the dead not only to give us forgiveness, but to give us hope to go on in our darkest hour.   In the middle of our darkest darkness, the power of His light shines the brightest.  The deeper our pain, the more glorious our hope appears as faith pops up.  The suffering of the cross was Jesus most painful moment on the planet, but it was the cross that presented the opportunity for God to manifest His
glory in His Son.  Paul writes that Jesus “was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:4 NIV).
          This is how it is for us as we live life joined with Jesus.  We need the resurrection power of Christ every day because it gives us living hope to live our lives in the face of adversity, while the rest of the world spirals in despair.  We have living hope, not dead hope.  We walk by faith, not by sight.  We know God’s footsteps lead us through the tumultuous storm though we can’t often see in front of us.  And in our darkest moment when we think that all faith is gone—faith pops up.

Category : Tommy Talk