A Living Hope

The photo above was taken this morning (2/18) at Kumabe Castle ruins in Yamaga.

About a ten-minute walk from our home/church building stands a massive Buddha. It measures about one-hundred feet high and more than thirty feet wide. Though perhaps not strictly made of stone, you might say that it is a dead stone. It certainly has no life in itself, no power to meet the needs of the people who come to it, no sight in its ever-staring eyes, and no words to speak from its unmoving lips. Just as the idols of which the psalmist writes:

They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see, ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell, hands, but cannot touch, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot even clear their throats. (Psalm 115:5-7 – NET)

Down the stairs below the statue you can find a white wooden post on which the following is painted: “MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH”. As much as we would desire this prayer to become reality, we know that such a sentiment is only wishful thinking until the Lord Jesus comes to rule and reign at the end of the ages. The non-living, hundred-foot idol towering above the post has absolutely no power to affect even the slightest amount of change toward the prayer written on the post.

For the past few weeks Siloam Church has been going through Peter’s first epistle. In the first chapter we read:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…. (I Peter 1:3 – NET)

Our Lord is risen. He is alive. Believers have a living hope in the resurrected, living Jesus! Because of the reality of His resurrection, we have so much more hope than that which is written on the wooden post. And our hope is sure.

In the second chapter our Lord is called a living stone. This metaphor is not accidental or arbitrary; our Lord is alive! This Living Stone, unlike a statue or idol made of non-living materials, will fulfill far greater hopes than we can imagine!

Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit will lift the blinders off those here in Japan who would put their hope in idols. May they see the vanity of such hope, and may we have boldness to joyfully share the living hope into which we have been born, to introduce them to the Living Stone.

Praise:

• for an encouraging time of prayer and fellowship in Izumi with ABWE missionaries and their families
• for God’s continue sustaining hand in every aspect of our lives
• for Nate’s new job beginning in April (and some possibilities in the months between)
• for the amazing support of our big brothers and sisters in the Lord

Please Pray:

• for the spiritual growth of Siloam Church members
• for home-education wisdom for Azusa and Nate
• for the paperwork for Azusa’s visa to be expedited
• for our boldness in sharing the gospel
• for the Norman’s 100-mile run fundraiser for the Siloam Home for Orphans and Widows

We thank you for your prayer support!