Suffering Beyond Hope?

from The River Church Sermons · host The River Church of the South Bay

Cat Stevens wrote the song, Wild World ages ago. "Oh baby baby it's a wild world It's hard to get by just upon a smile…" A smile is not enough but it sure helps after a break up, news of a layoff, 3rd quarter disappointing results, feeling rejected or misunderstood, or being persecuted for being a Christ follower. But is it enough? Distressed, tested by fire, an inexpressible joy. How do those go together? The mystery hangs on a confidence we have that resurrection is like a snow plow that forges a path ahead. What is impassable becomes a way forward. Where we might have been trapped in grief or great sadness or disappointment now becomes an image of Jesus, our inexpressible joy. Those 6 families that lost loved ones in Nashville are beyond our ability to comfort. But there must be an answer. There just has to be. A hope. A living hope. I bank my life on it. I Peter 1:1-9 leads the way forward for us.