Alive 预览

Hope Is Alive 

When my daughter was born, everybody said she looked like me. I honestly did not see what people saw. Then one day, as she sat in her car seat while we were in the car, the sun rays were highlighting her face, and I saw it. I saw the resemblance that everybody talked about. Seeing the resemblance sparked the excitement to write lyrics to a new song called Alive. Being a father gave me a whole new purpose, and I was grateful.

God gives us new songs to sing. He places songs in our hearts and words on our minds to bless His name. He seeks and draws near to us through His Spirit. We see sunsets and stars, listen to ocean waves, and admire the mountains, as through them He is letting us know that He is very much present in our lives. We feel alive by admiring His creation, which gives us more reason to declare His glory and marvelous works. 

Nonetheless, a life in Christ is not all perfect with cupcakes and rainbows. There is a cost to following truth in a dying world. In the Gospels, Jesus said to follow Him; we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross. Paul said he had been nailed to the cross with Christ and therefore he lived by faith. A life in Christ is recognizing who Jesus is in you. He becomes your identity. In the same way that people believed my daughter resembled me, we too begin to resemble our heavenly Father. We start being love in a world filled with hate. We shine His light in a world full of darkness. 

It is only through Jesus that we know the Father. His Spirit draws us near to God, and His Word gives us the understanding to know who we are in Him. Through Christ, we not only have a purposeful identity here on Earth, but even on our lowest days, we receive a living hope from Him. We hold on to hope because our heart is set on God. 

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and you will understand the hope given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all God’s people.” 

God keeps hope alive!