Strength To Overcome Hopelessness

In Christ, we have strength to deal with the moments and events in life that are hopeless.

At the end of his 2^nd missionary journey Paul wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth, he writes these words (13:13): “But now faith, hope, love, abide in these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

What he is saying here is that faith is necessary; hope is necessary. He then singles out love and says that love is the greatest of all.

Now, most of us, I think, would agree with Paul that there is nothing greater than love.

After all, love is the force that binds our families together.

It is the word that best characterizes what God Himself is like – God is Love.

However, that does not eliminate the need for faith and hope in our lives.

Faith, hope and love work together in our lives.

(More than one time in God’s Word we see three as being significant. For example: Father, Son, Holy Spirit – the Trinity.)

One of those elements of life that Paul writes about here: that is HOPE.

In Christ we have the promise of strength to deal with life’s hopeless situations and events.

Again, Paul clearly teaches that among the virtues Christians are endowed with, love is the Greatest one.

However, the absence of hope is a major source of destruction in our lives.

Most of us have face some very catastrophic situations in our lives.

As we wandered through those difficult situations we felt hopeless and helpless to find a way out of that situation. At that time, we were without hope. All is lost. There is no way back – no way to get out of this difficulty.

There was a great absence of HOPE.

Sometimes it does seem that life itself is almost hopeless.

Let’s look at Mark 1:40-45 – READ

Here is a leaper. Lepers, in that day, were people who were to be shunned – no one was to have anything to do with anyone with leprosy.

Leprosy was incurable – so no one could help the man; and, in fact, no one would help him for fear of being infected with that dreaded uncurable disease.

No one was to have anything to do with a person with leprosy. They were ignored as they lay in the town square begging for alms.

So, this man we read about in Mark chapter 1 is one of those with leprosy. One to be shunned, ignored, treated as garbage on the street --- hopeless.

No one could – or would – help him. He was diseased – uncurable.

He was isolated from all of humanity – most people feared him. No one would help him.

In the minds of the people of that day, a person who was a leper was seen as someone who had sinned greatly – so greatly that they could never be forgiven of their sin.

For that man life was HOPELESS. His disease was uncurable, he was isolated from all of society – alone in the truest sense of the word – believing – as was the thinking of most people in that day – that leprosy was a punishment from God for a sin they had committed. So, in the minds of many – especially the Jews – the man deserved to be in this condition.

So, let’s look at our lives today.

We may have moments – even extended periods of feeling hopeless.

But, when we are in Christ, we must understand and be confident in this ---

LIFE IS NEVER AS HOPELESS AS IT SEEMS.

Let’s go back to the leper. He had a resource for healing that he hadn’t known he had.

That resource, of course, is the healing power that comes from an encounter with Jesus!

Jesus was his healing power. Jesus was his source of energy and new life.

There was hope – even for a poor, helpless, and shunned begging leper.

And here is where we can find hope as people living many centuries past the events we read of in Mark chapter 1:

JESUS CHRIST HAS THE STRENGTH FOR LIFE’S HOPELESS EVENTS

So, something that seems catastrophic happens in our life. We feel like there is no hope, no way out of this situation. And that may be true; there may be no way out --- when we try to work it out for, and by ourselves.

But – when we are willing to bring our hopeless moments and our hopeless feelings to Jesus Christ, we will experience the strength and the power He has to lead us out of the dread of hopelessness.

When we realize the situation IS TOO BIG for us to manage, or solve, and we take it to Him and turn it over to Him – we are giving Him our hopelessness – we are placing our trust in Him to work in our seemingly hopeless situation.

All too often we are reluctant to turn our tough times over to Him.

Many people see that as a sign of weakness – as an indication that I cannot take care of myself.

In reality – we cannot take care of ourselves.

I often look at the people of the world – those without a knowledge and a relationship with Jesus, and wonder – how do they navigate through the trials of life with no hope of resolutions for those trials.

And, at this point, I need to say, that is when we have an opportunity to share the love of God through Christ his Son and the saving power He offers to all of humankind.

CONCLUSION

Leprosy is not a problem in today’s world, as it was in the 1^st century when the events in the Gospels occurred.

But one thing has remained and exists in the lives of many today.

That one thing is that Hopelessness has not been eradicated from the lives and minds of multitudes of people.

We don’t have to look far to see that hopelessness all around us.

People have dreams and hope of important things in their lives. And those hopes are shattered; hearts are broken; promises are broken; lives are ruined.

There is Hope for all these situations – all these disappointments – all the shattered dreams and expectations.

That Hope is the strength that comes through the promises God has given to all who obey the teachings of His Son, Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ – alone, no other source – we can find strength to bring us through the hopelessness that life sometimes throws at us.

That hope can be ours when He bring it all to the feet of Jesus. When we come to Him to receive the Hope He has to give to all who will come to Him.

God’s supply of strength is not limited. Each of us is not allotted a certain amount of God’s strength and intervention into our lives.

His strength is infinite – it is everlasting – it is available to each of us in our time of weakness and need.

Wherever Jesus travelled during His journey here on earth crowds followed Him. Why?

Because they had seen and heard about His strength and the miracles He performed.

The hopeless believed there was hope for them – the blind, the lepers.....

Leprosy is not a problem in the world as it once was. However, hopelessness in the lives of multitudes of people is very much a reality in the world today.

Hopelessness is all around us today. It is evidenced by lives ruined by sin; people seeking hope and help from what the world offers instead of the abundant life God offers us through Jesus Christ.

Lives have been ruined, dreams have been shattered, leaving many without hope. But what a difference Jesus can make in those lives – in your lives.

He has the strength – He is the source of strength.

He takes life’s times of hopelessness and turns them into moments of joy and praise.

Like the leper, we must bring our hopelessness to Him and allow Him to restore hope into our lives because of His love for us.

Look again at how the leper came to Jesus: “beseeching Him – falling on his knees – begged for Jesus to willingly make him clean.

The bottom line here - in all that has been said, is this: JESUS CHRIST HAS THE STRENGTH WE NEED FOR LIFE’S HOPELESS MOMENTS.