tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post7931974920664498414..comments2024-03-04T00:50:02.182-08:00Comments on KeithGiles.com: RISEN?Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-57316564985487091862010-04-07T04:37:36.380-07:002010-04-07T04:37:36.380-07:00The 'death focus' absolutely reflects our ...The 'death focus' absolutely reflects our attitudes. I see it in the faces at our church...believers desperately looking for something to engage them. I see it in the mirror as well....<br /><br />A verse that has settled on my heart for these last several weeks is 1 Peter 1:3:<br /><br />Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead....<br /><br />Not just hope by chance...like "I hope I don't get hit by a car", or "I hope I don't get the flu," or "I hope I get to Heaven". It's a "lively" hope. Next to that in my Bible I wrote "living, alive, active, breathing, exciting, unpredictable, animated, dynamic, energetic, vigorous, vivacious." That's my Hope, embodied by Jesus Christ, because He is indeed risen from the dead!<br /><br />It's so easy to let my hope be a function of circumstances, of church services, of so many external things (things that always leave me questioning my faith and more or less empty), when our amazing, living, unpredictable, breathing, active, energetic (and all of those other things) Savior is the One who empowers me and offers everything plus more than I can possibly receive....my Lively Hope! May this Christ-liveliness motivate and energize and empower me to walk in the good works that I was ordained to do.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084928158316119748noreply@blogger.com