A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR MIKE

Loving Each Other: The Elixir of Life & Emotions (Easter Edition)

What keeps us going when life is hard? 

Today, as we think about loving each other, I want to talk about the elixir of life, the importance of emotions, and our Easter Family Bible Teaching.

1. The Elixir of Life: Hope
G. K. Chesterton once said, “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.”

When life is dark.  When the light feels a long way away. When we are at rock bottom, and in the deepest darkest valleys - when keeps us going? What makes life worth living?

The answer to this is hope. 

Hope is what keeps people going in the midst of pain.  It is what kept prisoners alive whilst living in the worst conditions in the worst concentration camps.  It is what makes life worth living when we've lost a child or loved one.

Hope is so important, and now, in the midst of our crisis caused by the Corona Virus, our hope in the future is what we need to concentrate on.

For the follower of Jesus, this hope comes from his death and resurrection. This is why we can live for the future.  This is why we have hope for the future.  This is why we can stare death in the eye - and continue to live with joy and passion.

It is because our King and Saviour stared death in the eye, submitted his life to it, and then defeated it on the cross, giving us a sure future to look forward to.

Let me encourage you - in the midst of this crisis - to keep look to the glorious future that Jesus gives his followers.

This drives what we do now - making and growing followers of Jesus for his honour and glory.

This drive how we live - loving each other, and loving others.

Our mission, and how we live, has not changed.  The world around us has changed - but our eyes remained fixed on Jesus, who is our past, present and future.

Let's spend time this Easter thinking about the glorious future we look forward to!