Hope in ChristThis year I finally bit the bullet and joined a fantasy baseball league. Those who know me know how big of a San Francisco Giants fan I am. I love baseball and I’ve heard all the horror stories of baseball fans getting involved in fantasy leagues to the point of ridiculousness. Some even go as far as lose contact with reality and start neglecting all other things for the sake of their “team.”

I can almost see how that can happen. My fantasy baseball team is not doing so well; in fact it’s the worse team in the league. Now the majority of my team is made up of San Francisco Giants players so one would naturally think that the actual Giants team is probably in last place too. While they are not playing up to their potential, especially their pitching staff, they are still 13-7 and one game out of first place in the National League West Division.

So what does this have to do with a morning devotional? Good question. It has to do with false hope. If I was to place all my hope in my beloved Giants 2013 season based on my fantasy team, I would rightly think there was little hope for them to win the World Series this year. However, the reality of it is my team is in fine position to repeat.

When it comes to eternity, too many people place their hope in a false salvation. This world can tell you that all paths lead to heaven, but in the end only one actually does. King Solomon knew this:

    “The hope of the righteous will be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.” (Proverbs 10:28)

Israel has placed its hope in false security as has the United States:

    “Still our eyes failed us, watching vainly for our help; in our watching we watched for a nation that could not save us.” (Lamentations 4:17)

Too many Christians are trusting in government to bring us security when we already have all the security in Christ that we need. Commenting on our Proverbs 10:28, Matthew Henry writes:

“What man is he that loves life? Let him fear God, and that will secure to him life enough in this world, and eternal life in the other.”

Could that be any clearer? If you reject the clear path of righteousness that God has laid out before us in the life of Jesus Christ, then you should expect only wrath. I know that is not a popular subject to teach from the Joy Boy pulpits, in fact I doubt you can find the word “wrath” in the NTFV Bible (New Touchy-Feely Version). Oh Bro Dave, enough of your condemning word!

Your grievance is not against me, it is against Jesus Christ. Right after He spoke the most familiar words of John 3:16 He said this:

    “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:18-21)

Is that you? Do you love the darkness of this world instead of the light of Jesus Christ? Perhaps you know someone who does. Read again Christ’s words and see that you are living in a fantasy if you believe any part of you or any works by you is sufficient to give you eternal life in heaven. Quite the opposite is true; while you may indeed find life enough in this world, your eternal life is one that will be spent in eternal condemnation.

Choose wisely my beloved; this is not a game.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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