Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9

This past Sunday in church we sang a wonderful new worship song by Phil Wickham titled “Living Hope.”  As the words to that song were being sung I was taken back once again to the wonderful promises of hope that are found in the Bible.  Words of living hope through Jesus Christ like those proclaimed in 1 Peter 1:3-6.

In this life we need hope!  So often people will look near and far to find that hope but end up wondering if it really does exist.  Fyodor Dostevsky wrote, “To live without hope is to cease to live.”  Emil Brunner wrote, “What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life.”  The Good News of the Christian faith is that it does exist for each of us.

Here is the proof from 1 Peter 1:3-5.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

 In life situations it is too easy to resign ourselves to a hopeless end.  God’s Word promises us that through faith in Jesus Christ we can instead find endless hope.  We can hang on in difficult times because we hold on to the promises of God and our confidence in God.  God has promised to never leave you or forsake you no matter how tough your life may get.  Never give up hope!

 Make it Personal:  Have you been placing your hope in hopeless things?  Have they been letting you down?  Try this living hope that is found in Jesus your Savior.  He can save you, deliver you, sustain you, protect you, and give you a hope that is alive and well in our world today.

         Our world is hungry for acts of kindness!  In a time in which social media rears its ugly head time and time again, we need people who will step up and pronounce encouraging, uplifting, compassionate, and kind words to people.  We hear way too much discouragement.  We need more kindness in the world.

Back in 1982, Anne Herbert coined a simple phrase that caught on.  Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK).  The idea took root, and then took off.  In 1992 a book was published with that title and imagined a world filled with an outbreak of random kindness being shared from one human to another.  The book became an instant best-seller and gave birth to many movements that encouraged people to share kindness on a daily basis.

Long before that book was published there was another book that encourages this kind of life as well.  The Bible gives us many stories, examples, and encouragements to bless others with kindness, care, and compassion.  In the book of Ruth we see how the successful businessman Boaz shared his kindness with Ruth and Naomi.  He provided for their needs and made them feel welcomed among strangers.

In the Gospels we see many examples of this kindness in the life of Jesus.  Paul and James encourage us often to show compassion to the widow, orphan, and those in need.  These examples are reminders that the Christian life should flow freely with random acts of kindness.  William Penn once said, “I expect to pass through life once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow-being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”

 My prayer is that our acts of kindness become normal and not just random.  I would love to open up Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram each day and see words of hope, kindness, and encouragement instead of negativity and hatred.  Let’s be the ones to lead the way!

 Make it Personal:  
How is your kindness scale reading these days?  We all have days that seem better than others.  Try to use kindness as a way of brightening the day of another, so that your day too can be brightened.  May your Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) then turn into Normal Acts of Kindness (NAOK).

Read: Acts 8:26-40

         Recently I was with a friend who is a generation older than I am.  When I asked him how he was doing, he responded with a phrase I had never heard.  He said “Oh, about two in a hill”.  I was confused by this response so I asked him to explain what it meant.  

My friend wasn’t sure how the expression came to be, but it has to do with bean plants.  In former days, beans were often planted four or five to a hill.  If two of these seeds sprouted to produce beans, then you don’t have an abundant crop, but you at least have something.  So in other words, my friend was doing “fair” or “so-so”.  Not a full five-to-a-hill day, just a mediocre two-to-a-hill day.  I then understood the answer to my first question of,  “How are you?”  I was glad I asked for an explanation.

As Christians, there will be things we say or do that might cause others to ask for an explanation.  Readily forgiving those who hurt us, speaking of others kindly, reaching out to those in need, responding to trying times with patience, or showing joy in hard situations are all actions that do not come naturally.  When others see these actions, or especially when others receive these actions, they may inquire why.  We need to be ready to explain.  Only God living through us can produce this kind of fruit.  A relationship with his son Jesus is the source of this kind of life.  

In Acts 8, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian is another example of this.  The Ethiopian man is reading from scripture and asks Philip to explain it to him further.  Upon hearing the message about Jesus from his conversations with Philip, he began to understand.  He asked Philip to baptize him in the water right there along the side of the road.  The message of Jesus was clear, and it was one that the Ethiopian man could not resist.  

Talking about scripture with others is time well-spent.  Talking about the life available through a relationship with Jesus is a fruitful conversation to have.  And, the fruit it will produce in our lives and the lives of others will be bountiful.  It will go way beyond the five-to-a-hill crop!    

 Make it Personal:  Find ways to read, study, and learn about God’s Word in new and different ways.  There are many books, translations of the Bible, paraphrases, and commentaries that help to expand your understanding of God’s life-changing story.  Most of all be sure you are sharing the message clearly with your family and friends.  It will change their life!

Have a blessed week, Pastor Glen Rhodes
Arthur Mennonite Church, 710 E. Park St.