Epicenter: Ephesus (Exchanging Addiction for Hope) — Tuesday
Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (NIV)
I can vividly remember the relief that washed over me when the results of the bar exam were released. For the six months following graduation, I spent every waking minute of my life completely consumed with studying the law. From sunup to sundown, not a single minute was wasted. I had a goal - pass the Kentucky Bar Exam - and I was going to achieve it! The exam lasted several hours over two days. After I completed the exam there was nothing left to do but wait weeks in anticipation for the results to be released - publicly, I might add. Yes, the Kentucky Bar Association publicly releases a list of everyone who passes and fails the bar exam. The relief I felt when I found out I passed was immeasurable. I knew that, from there on, the only mandatory studying I had to do was for my continuing education every year.
At the first continuing education conference I attended, I was sitting in a hotel convention space with thousands of other attorneys. The last session I attended had a task force of prominent legal minds including legislators, judges and professors. The topic was on combating the addiction epidemic in Kentucky. Before the panel laid out their plans one of these truly great legal minds commented that Kentucky is leading the fight in eradicating addiction. After listening to all these regulations set to take effect, one young attorney stood before these legal giants and thousands of his peers and respectfully asked one simple question, “What about hope? How are you going to legislate hope?”
This young attorney knew something that these policy makers did not. He knew that the answer to solving the addiction epidemic could not come by any law passed by man. The real driver behind addiction is man’s desire to fill the god-size hole in his heart - hopelessness is behind addiction. The good news is that there is a hope, and his name is Jesus. For it was the good pleasure of Jesus to choose us and adopt us (Ephesians 1:4-5), redeem us (Ephesians 1:7-10) and make us alive in Him (Ephesians 2:1-10). Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
Tuesday’s Reflection
What do you put your hope in? If the desires of this world only fuel our addictions, then why would you put your hope in the solutions the world has to offer as well? There is only one hope and “he was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:4).