Looking for Joy, Peace, Love, and Hope?
If you are human (which I hope you are), you are searching for joy, peace, and hope for the future. You want to know you are loved, you want to be happy, you long for a happy future but you just don’t know how to get all of that. Do you feel like you have a huge hole in your heart but you just can’t find the answer? Have you searched everywhere, but still come up feeling broken? I have too, but I found the answer.
As humans, we want to find love in another human. We try to fill this gaping hole in our hearts with another sinner. We long for that “special someone” and spend most of our lives looking for him or her. When we finally find our significant other, we wonder why it feels like there is something missing. Why am I still longing for love? We search for happiness by buying technology, longing for money, making future plans, and loving someone. But we always come up empty handed. You might have everything, but you are still not truly happy. You have no hope.
We look all over the world looking for something to satisfy us but we are not looking in the right place! What we need to be chasing is not worldly love, money, and satisfaction. We need to be chasing God. While there is nothing wrong with love, money, and satisfaction (as they are gifts from God), they are not going to give you the true joy you are looking for. Only God can give you the happiness and peace you long for everyday.
One of the most known verses is John 3:16 but we need to take a closer look at it and really take it to heart to truly understand the amazing truth of the passage. It says:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
God loved you so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for you. Would you be able to give up your child to die for a sinner like you so that that sinner might be able to live a happy life and have a future? God did that for you.
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
Did you really read that verse and think about it? Really think about it. Christ died for us… while we were still sinners. In Jesus day, they would spit on Him and yell at Him. They would treat Jesus like a piece of trash. People had sex with whoever they wanted whenever they wanted. People lied and cheated. People stole. They (we) were not perfect. Yet Christ still died for us. But why?
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Luke 19:10
My husband and I recently listened to the true story of a man who was a Jew. He gave an amazing testimony. He knew nothing of how to get saved, what heaven and hell were, and who Jesus was. He turned to doing heavy drugs in college, as well as partying. As he lived this life, he constantly felt like something was missing. He didn’t know what it was but he was determined to find it. To make a long story short, he talked to an evangelist on a streat corner who shared Christ with him. Later on, he asked God to save him and of course He did and changed his whole life! God filled the empty gap in his life that he was constantly looking for. He is now a pastor and living a godly life.
If that’s not encouraging enough for you, think of the apostle Paul. The story of his conversion is found in Acts 9:1-19 and I strongly encourage you to read it! To summarize, Paul (used to be Saul) killed Christians. He had a strong hate for them and wanted them to die and suffer. One day, as he was traveling to Damascus, Jesus spoke to him. After this conversation and being physically blinded (later healed) he stopped persecuting Christians and followed God. God changed his life. A person who killed Christians, was changed and became a child of God.
You may think you are too long gone. “I’ve done too many things for God to love me. I’ve hurt people, I’ve cheated, I’ve lied, I’ve stolen. God wouldn’t want anything to do with me. He doesn’t love me.” If you still believe this after reading everything above, maybe you need to go back and read the above verses and stories! You are not too lost for God to save you. He wants to save you and give you the joy, peace, love, and hope you are looking for.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
If you want Christ to change your life, ask Him into your heart today. Ask Him to change your life. Ask for forgiveness of your sins. He will make you white as snow.
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:9-10
Only Christ can give you the joy, peace, love, and hope you are looking for. Don’t wait any longer! This Christmas, realize what Christ did for you. Let him change your life and fill the huge hole that you have been longing to fill. If you just let Him, He will change your life forever.
