Finding Hope Through Christ’s Resurrection
Hope through Christ’s resurrection offers lasting encouragement when suffering and hardship seem endless. Mark A. Taylor reflects on the passing of winter, the promise of spring, and the biblical reminder that earthly troubles will not last forever. Drawing from 1 Peter, he points readers toward the enduring promise of eternal life and the grace to be revealed when Jesus Christ returns.
- The changing seasons remind us that difficult circumstances, like winter itself, will eventually pass.
- Christ’s resurrection gives believers a foundation for hope that reaches beyond temporary suffering and earthly life.
- Peter encourages Christians facing trials to set their hope fully on the grace to be revealed in Jesus Christ.
By Mark A. Taylor
Spring Always Comes
After one of the roughest winters in memory for many Christian Standard readers, Easter and the promise of spring couldnโt have come too soon.
Even as we finish preparing this issue the first week of March, the lawns of our city are still half-covered with snow. Huge hills of the stuffโdirtied by car exhaust and gravelโstill tower on the edges of many parking lots. Itโs difficult for us to imagine little girls in pastel dresses posing in front of daffodils and Easter lilies as we hurry about our business still trying to shrug off the cold.
But we write with confidence that spring will come by the time youโre reading this. Our God has created a universe with such order that we take for granted the passing of the seasons. And even those who have decried the record snowfalls of this winter have not given up hope of sunshine and warmth, because spring always comes.
This, Too, Shall Pass
โThis, too, shall passโ is the proverb repeated especially by those who have lived decades and seen the truth of the saying. In no situation is this more reassuring than when weโre suffering with the extremes of a season: numbing cold, flood-producing rain, exhausting heat, or autumnโs onslaught of fallen leaves. Arenโt we glad we donโt shovel or rake all year long?
And โthis, too, shall passโ can give us hope amid worse troubles than those. When our situation seems impossible, we can remember that nothing bad lasts forever.
Hope Grounded in the Resurrection
More than homespun wisdom, this hope is grounded on biblical teaching. Peter, who wrote to Christians enduring persecution, encouraged them to rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus, even though โnow for a little whileโ theyโre suffering grief from trials (1 Peter 1:6). โRejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ,โ he told them, โso that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealedโ (4:13).
In other words, โthis, too, shall pass.โ Christโs death means we can rise above the fallout from our sin. His resurrection proves that life extends beyond the grave.
We live in this world โas strangers hereโ (1 Peter 1:17). The American Standard Version translates it as โthe time of your sojourning.โ This, tooโnot only our life on this earth, but the very earth itselfโshall pass. When our days are difficult, we can remember the apostleโs encouragement: โSet your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealedโ (1:13).
Too often Iโm so preoccupied with life I forget the life to come. In good times as well as bad, may I pray for grace to remember, โThis too, shall pass.โ
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
