Confronting Past And Present Challenges
New beginnings mark our human experience. Graduations, new jobs, new homes, births, deaths, moving to a new city, new relationships, and retirement to name a few. And yet, each new chapter we encounter brings with it new challenges and obstacles. Our life is marked by these challenges, and it can be easy to become discouraged with our attitude or complacent with our time. With Easter right around the corner and signs of new beginnings all around, I have been seeking to focus my mind on what this season is about and the truths it speaks not only into present challenges but into my past and future as well. In doing this, three short passages from God’s word have come to mind to help properly orient my gaze.
The first, dealing with the past, is Jesus’s final words as He hung on the cross. In John chapter 19, after tasting the sour wine, our exhausted, stripped, and beaten Jesus declared, “It is finished.” What was finished? The most important act of sacrificial love ever known. After living a sinless life, Jesus took upon himself the penalty of sin we deserved and freed us from the death to which we were once bound. In our inability to redeem ourselves and win the ultimate struggle, God lovingly provided his only son to bring us back into right relationship with himself.
The second text, which addresses the present, is from Hebrews chapter 12. It says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…” In light of Christ’s accomplishment on the cross and defeat of death, we are called to live our present life with boldness and perseverance. Because Christ overcame, we are called to overcome. Having Christ as our example, we are exhorted to look to Him to be both our motivation and strength. This provides us with great encouragement to “run the race set before us,” especially when we remember His indwelling presence in the Holy Spirit.
Finally, as we look to our future hope, the Lord declares in Revelation 21:5, “I am making all things new.” Despite any struggle we may face, we know how the story ends: God is going to ultimately bring full restoration to His glorious design. For those in Christ, this means no more tears, no more pain, no more brokenness. No matter what we face in our present, our future is with Jesus in everlasting and complete joy.
~by Luke Miller