THINK TOGETHER
Is there something that you're hoping will happen today?
READ TOGETHER
One of the most important messages of the Bible is that we can have hope even when things are really, really hard. Do you know what hope is? Hope is when you know that something good is coming in the future. Sometimes we use the word hope to mean that we aren't sure something will happen. Like when we say, "I hope my team wins their basketball game." Or "I hope I get a new video game for my birthday." We might want these things but we're not sure that they will happen.
But in the Bible hope is about knowing for sure that God will one day rescue us, and not just guessing that he will. In the Bible hope is always about being sure. Why? Because God always keeps his promises.
When the Jewish people were taken into exile everything seemed so hopeless. The big, bad, Babylonians came and conquered them, burned their city and the temple of God, and took everyone back to Babylon as slaves. Where was God? What about God's promises? But in the middle of all this suffering and sadness God spoke these words through Jeremiah the prophet:
Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
God had a plan to bring his people back home one day to the promised land. And God has a plan for you too. His plan sometimes includes some hard things. In fact, when you are a Christian you are living in exile just like the Jewish people in the Old Testament. As a Christian you are living in a world that is not your true and final home with Jesus in Heaven. And that means that while we wait for Jesus to return to fix everything things might get hard. There will be some sad days. But just like the Jewish exiles of old, Jesus has promised us a hope filled future with him. A world where everything bad is good again. Everything sad is turned into happy. Everything hard becomes easy. And everything sinful is gone forever.
Because of Jesus we will live forever in the joy of God.
With Jesus we can have hope, knowing these hard days won't last forever.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
What is something that you are looking forward to as a family? How can this special thing give you a little glimpse of going to heaven one day?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you have promised me a future of peace and good days. Help me to hope in you. Amen.
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