Pandemic fatigue, this is what people are attributing the rapid decrease in our mental health nowadays. More than one year of lockdowns and restrictions, everyone grapples for ways to pretend that everything that’s going on is "the new normal."
But wherever we turn, we see news of death, disease, aggression towards others, violence, and apathy. We are growing ever more restless and anxious as we feel it hitting closer and closer to home. As we approach the Holy Week, we may be asking God more than ever how to make sense of the chaos that reveals one horror after another.
How do we keep our chin up in these times? What do we do when the clouds seem to hide our view of the cross? When grief and loss crouch at the door, how do we respond in faith? You may think it’s impossible, even call it crazy, to think about rejoicing as an automatic response to our circumstances. How can we, when a loved one just succumbed to an illness or we are unable to pick ourselves up financially? How can we praise when the daily physical and mental battle seems to get even more difficult? But rejoicing or praising is the kind of response that the Lord counts as righteousness. God wants us to understand that when we shift our perspective from ourselves to Christ, we will find that His death and resurrection are the only foundation that we need to cling to a hope that will never fade.
We can rejoice because?
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. - 1 Peter 1:3-5.
We received His unmerited mercy
God’s love has allowed us to receive His mercy through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His begotten son. It is not because we are worthy to be saved. The offer of salvation, being renewed, redeemed, and sanctified, will never have come to fulfillment without God’s mercy. We are doomed because of our sin, and there is nothing we could’ve done nor could do to save ourselves from eternal destruction. Spurgeon says,
"No other attribute could have helped us had mercy been refused. As we are by nature, justice condemns us, holiness frowns upon us, power crushes us, truth confirms the threatening of the law, and wrath fulfills it. It is from the mercy of our God that all our hopes begin."
We can rely on a living hope
Not only mercy did He give, but His love also extended so far as to promise us a hope that will never perish. A promise that was personified and evidenced by Jesus' death and resurrection. It assures us that we are not clinging to empty promises or disillusionment. It is by the blood of Christ that we can overcome our everyday battles with joy and contentment because our future is known.
"For in this hope, we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?" - Romans 8:24
We can claim an imperishable inheritance
We have an inheritance that does not fade away. In many ways, this is absolutely different from the riches that we can amass in this life. We have an assurance that it is being kept in heaven by God himself, at the same time protecting us until the day that we can find enjoyment in this inheritance.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.- 1 Peter 1:6-7
We can find purpose in our trials
"A faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted." - John Maxwell
We coined the theme of 2020 as the year that never happened, but it is during this year that our faith was truly tested. This is not for God to know how big our faith is because He already knew. But it is to kill our ignorance of how much faith we have. Our grieving then turns into praising when we realize that it is through the process of purification that our faith is being tested. For us to be "whole and complete, not lacking anything" James 1:4. "Then we will receive the crown of life if we endured." (James 1:12)
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. - 1 Peter1:8-9
We can have unfathomable joy
Shifting our focus towards the cross of Christ reminds us that our hope is not founded on a past event. His resurrection made us new even during this present age. When we look at Jesus, we have an inexpressible joy that even we cannot understand. We have faith that transcends even death and suffering because of God’s grace that gave us the ability to perceive and believe the eternal things to come. Our joy is not grounded in our circumstances but is founded on the person of Christ.
It is my deepest desire that we all seek God’s guidance as we approach the Holy Week. Ask Him for a faith revelation as we look at the cross. We can rejoice because we worship a God who knows and shares with us our sorrows, who is with us even as we suffer and go through difficult times. He is a God who is present, in control, sovereign.
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Honey Lagorra
3/31/2021