SURE HOPE

Alan remembers being six-years-old and seeing his alcoholic dad punch his mum. He started shoplifting at nine, and later robbed people at knife-point. In and out of prison for years, he began sniffing glue and taking drugs to numb the pain. After stabbing another inmate, he was sent to solitary confinement where he broke down and asked God to change him. After several years God used a Christian book to tell Alan about Jesus, and he asked Jesus to be his Saviour.

Alan still has struggles, but his trust in God continues to grow. He thanks God for rescuing him “from a very dark and destructive lifestyle, and for giving me a future filled with hope and eternal salvation.”

Alan has experienced a “new birth into a living hope” and will enjoy an inheritance in heaven that will never break, grow old or fade away (1 PETER 1:3-4). We too, when we trust Jesus as our Saviour, have the sure promise of salvation, even though we may have to go through hard things in our earthly lives (V.6). Even in the difficulties we can be filled with “glorious joy” because of our love for Him and His certain promises to us (V.8).

As we look forward to the amazing inheritance of heaven that belongs to us, may our love for God and confidence in Him grow all the more, drawing others to Him as well.