If only !

As a Christian, we know that Jesus is the only hope for the world.

Paul speaks of this hope when he writes : "Remember ... that you were at that time without Christ, deprived of the right of city ... strangers to the covenants of promise, WITHOUT HOPE and without God in the world. But now ... you have been brought together by the blood of Christ. FOR HE IS OUR PEACE"(Ephesians 2: 11-14).

The lost generation of today is like the multitude on which Jesus wept in Jerusalem. People of the time of Christ lost what Jesus wanted to give them. They have missed true freedom. They have lost the peace that comes from the assurance of having all sins forgiven. They missed the healing that comes from touching Jesus. They passed by a shelter in the storm. They have not experienced the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us and guides us.

It was on this lost crowd that Jesus cried and cried : "If only ! If only you had known what I wanted for your life. If only you had taken what I was offering you. I wanted to protect you, to extend my wings of comfort on you. If only you had listened. If only you had known my love and my mercy toward you" (Luke 19: 41-42 paraphrased).

Christ said : "If only you knew the resources prepared for you by My Heavenly Father, you would know peace that surpasses all understanding." The Bible utters the same cry : "If only !" From beginning to end. Today, we who believe, we know this refuge, we know where to turn in our most difficult struggles. We are assured that the same power abandoned by those who rejected it is freely available to each of those who have received the offer of Jesus by faith.

David Wilkerson