Therefore encourage one another with these words. - 1 Thessalonians 4:18

Today's Scripture Reading (March 20, 2024): 1 Thessalonians 3 & 4

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be the spreaders of hope. We are the encouragers that this world needs. We are the ones who understand that even though it is night, the sun will rise. We are the ones who, even in the face of death, have a hope for tomorrow. I am not saying this is an easy job; I don't believe it is. But it is our job. We don't fear death; instead, we rejoice because we know that death does not mean the end of life. We are a people of hope.

And we can't afford to let anything tear us away from that hope. Hope is the reason why we get out of bed in the morning and the reason why we continue on this sacred journey of life. And the reason for that hope is that this is only a stage, and after this stage is over, we know there is still more to come.

In 2017, Chris Davenport, Benjamin Hastings, and Ben Tan wrote a song called "Seasons." And, to be honest, the song connected with me because I fell in love with the lyrics. Musically, I find the piece a little awkward. But lyrically, it is wonderful. I want to point out a couple of things about the song. First, one phrase I love in the song is "from seed to Sequoia." Sequoia Trees are giants, some extending more than three hundred feet in the air, and the oldest of these trees is believed to be 3500 years old. In other words, some of these trees were already 1500 years old when Jesus ministered in Judea. However, the strength of the Sequoia tree is that it is born into adversity. The seed of a sequoia tree needs the harshness of winter to allow it to grow into everything that it will one day become. So, the line in the song that says "from seed to sequoia" indicates that even though our journey might include some hard times, we can be assured that we will become stronger because of these difficult experiences. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is with us, giving us the strength we need for the journey and encouraging us to be willing to do the hard things because we know God is with us.

Another portion of the song says,

            I know

            Though the winter is long, even richer

            The harvest it brings

            Though my waiting prolongs even greater

            Your promise for me like a seed

            I believe that my season will come

Even though it is winter, we must be a people of hope. Even in the darkness, we are to be the light. This is who we are, our identity in Christ. Jesus promised that he would return, and this is our hope, which we hold tight to even in the darkness surrounding us. Our season will come, and because of that, we have hope. Now, take that hope and give it away.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5