14But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more.15My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits.16I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.17O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
Thankfully, God does not leave us without hope - that we can be redeemed, that we can be right with God, that our lives will have meaning and purpose, that we will experience satisfaction through Jesus Christ. In our own human understanding and frail human effort, we do not have any assurances of a fulfilling life, but if we allow Christ to be our life, if we accept His promise of salvation through His death on the cross, then we can experience hope, true love, and inexpressible joy in His presence.
In Romans chapter 5, we read about a hope that can only come from God, a product of the expression of the love of Christ toward all humanity:
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.6For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Joel Testa is a developer in the Akron, Ohio area. He recently celebrated his 42nd birthday and asked family and friends for a gift - not for himself, mind you: He sent out a Facebook message requesting help to feed and clothe Akron’s homeless population during the holidays.
According to Ohio, com, he and his wife shouldered most of the expense personally, but parents, aunts, uncles and cousins plus dozens of friends and Testa Co. employees stepped up to help on short notice. His daughter’s scout troop made scarves to donate to the project, and a local market donated gift cards to help defray the estimated $2,000 price tag.
Testa said he is passionate about changing the perception people have of the area’s homeless. He says that,
“Generally, people are afraid of the homeless...The homeless are not lepers. Homelessness can happen to anyone.”
But Testa didn’t stop there. Testa is co-owner of a fine restaurant, and so he and his business partners arranged to prepare dinner for 50 homeless guests at the restaurant.
“Some of these people may never experience fine dining at a world-renowned restaurant,” Testa said.
Keith Stahl of a local agency serving the homeless, Community Support Services said that people need to feel they deserve to walk into a fine restaurant and be served. He is quoted as saying that it is the first step in breaking the grip of homelessness. Stahl said, "A lot of the guys lose hope that life can get better for them...It’s such a wonderful thing for them to do.”
And, indeed it was. I think this demonstration of selflessness can be instructive for us as believers in Christ. During this season, we can look for ways to reflect HOPE. Jesus came as the fulfillment of a promise, to bring hope after long years of darkness. His light shone into this hopeless world to bring life, forgiveness, freedom, and He came to fulfill that promise of salvation from God to His people.
I also think there's something highly symbolic about homeless people, some or most of them without a whole lot of hope, dining at a fine restaurant. Because, isn't that what God did for us? Humanity had strayed from God - lost without the knowledge of Himself, but He has reached out in our wandering state and brought us the very riches of heaven. His love has communicated to us that we belong, and Jesus gave of Himself so that we could inherit what He has in store for us. He did not allow our state of destitution keep us out of His kingdom.
And, we would do well not to allow physical appearance or cultural background to keep us separated from the people who really need to experience the hope of the gospel.
Finally, I don't know what Joel Testa's faith background is, but he does show us a creative way to turn receiving a birthday gift into giving to others. I am gratified to see the popular gift alternatives involving giving a gift to a charity or ministry in the name of a person. Here's a statement that might turn a few heads, but with all the needs around the world and even in our respective communities, doesn't it seem right to take resources that would be spent on a gift that would be taken for granted or maybe never be used and place them in the hands of people who are doing good for those less fortunate? Something to think about as we seek to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us - as we seek to bring hope to a world that needs to see the light of Christ.
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