April 6, 2020 | Dan Low

Perhaps more than any other spring of our lifetime, everyone hopes for a breakthrough. We hope that the novel coronavirus will stop spreading. We hope that the rate of infection and number of deaths will decline. We hope that our medical and health professionals will stay safe with all the personal protective equipment and resources needed to save lives. We hope that a vaccine to safeguard us from COVID-19 will be developed soon. We hope that our family, friends, and community at Bread of Life will all remain healthy. We hope that the stay at home/safer at home orders will end sooner than later. We hope that our jobs will be okay. We hope to get back to doing the things we love with the people we cherish. Our hearts are yearning with countless hopes and meaningful wishes.

By trusting Jesus as our personal Savior, we have already experienced the ultimate breakthrough. In his first letter, the apostle Peter praises God for his tremendous gift of great mercy–our new birth into living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1:3). Once spiritually dead, we are now alive to God through Jesus. So while we all long for the very best breakthroughs during this extremely difficult and concerning pandemic, we hold unswervingly to our living hope in Jesus (Hebrews 10:23). We are confident that the Spirit who raised Jesus to life now lives in us and will also give life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11).

Let’s ask God to displace any fear we might feel with the joy and security of our hope through Jesus. Let’s pray for significant and enduring breakthroughs in southern California, throughout our nation, and around the world–that God will empower us as his church and lead others to his Son.