[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]One quick scroll through any site, and you find a myriad of solutions for whatever problem you recently Googled. Fatigue? Try this supplement. Better snow shovel? You’ll want this ergonomic version. Refrigerator a mess? This store has the bins you need.
Advertising presents a solution to the problem you have. (Or even the solution to a problem you didn’t know you had!)
And in that solution, there is the hope of hope. We wonder if perhaps this will be the thing that unsticks my life. Maybe you’ve tried every diet ever introduced without results. Perhaps you’ve bought five different planners and used none of them. Or possibly you’ve subscribed to ten blogs on gardening only to have a harvest of weeds. Oh, how we’ve hoped!
Something in your life is stuck, unmoving, and this company and that influencer are ready with what you need…for a price.
The problem is how we look at the problem. Something hidden lies at the heart of every hope unrealized or spinning wheel or stuck life. It’s like a clogged sink. The problem lurks below the shiny surface.
There is only One who can give hope to us again in a way that fixes our problem at the heart level. And we can actually Google Him!
Go to biblegateway.com and type in Matthew 4:23-25. Find Jesus-hope:
Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing all who were sick to him. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, all over Judea, and east of the Jordan River. (Matthew 4:23-25)
Suppose Jesus had given sufferers a bag full of gold coins. Would it have done them any good? No. It might have led to harm. Instead, Jesus healed them. He didn’t find them a job, give them a pill, or read from a great blog on self-care. He gave them what no one else could: health. With that health came hope for a better life.
After these large crowds started following Jesus around, He stopped and gave them the Beatitudes. Really, we could read it like a laundry list of hopeless people: poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, the hungry, the persecuted.
But He called them blessed. This word blessed in Greek isn’t just about being happy. It’s about a state of well-being in relationship to God, a wholeness.
Jesus wants to get to the root of the issue. No quick fixes with Him. He wants to take that broken, hopeless heart and heal us. No Google search can help find that—unless it points to Jesus.
With Jesus alone, we get to the hairy, clogged snarls in our lives. He doesn’t just stand by and point to the Drano and tell you what to do. He touches and heals. But that’s after we stop searching for our solutions and instead start searching for God alone.
Questions for Finding Hope
- What hope have you been waiting for? Is it in the right thing?
- Are you telling God your solutions when you pray? Ask Him to reveal the hurts fueling your hopelessness so He can heal you with the hope you need.
- Who is one person in your life who needs hope today? Can you pray their name and ask God for one creative way to share and show the hope of Jesus?
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
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