Celebrating Our Hope

You have been waiting for this for weeks. You have been planning what you will wear, thinking about who else will be there, and hoping –hoping it will live up to all your expectations. You wonder how your anticipation could be any more intense as you ride the last few miles in the car.

Now that you are parked you see all the other folks who have come to be a part of this great event. Even people you don’t know look familiar because they are wearing the same colors you are. It’s great to be part of a winning team.

You look up ahead toward the stadium and you see people coming from every direction. They are streaming into the stadium. There is a party atmosphere. People are greeting one another. Cheers break out spontaneously. The air is electric. You find yourself walking faster and faster. You want to be in place to watch the team take the field.

As exciting as it can be to go to a football game, I imagine it is just a pale shadow of the experience that awaits those who have lived as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. While Jesus assured his disciples they would be welcomed into his Father’s kingdom, there would be a place for them at the great banquet, and that they would receive a reward for their obedience to his commands; the vision that John shares of the great multitude standing before the throne stirs a sense of excitement within me that is nearly impossible to contain.

Read from the Book of Revelation 7:9-17. Can you picture this crowd gathering? Can you sense their joy? Can you hear their voices as they sing?

Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.

It is an exhilarating scene!

As people gather for worship this Sunday, many will take time to remember those who have “fought the good fight . . . , finished the race . . . , kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). They will gather to give thanks for their lives and the hope that sustained them.

Let your worship renew your hope so that you may “run with endurance the race God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Let it refresh your vision of the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Let it strengthen your resolve to faithfully follow your Savior all your days.