Dear Friend,
It’s Easter morning, and Peter and John are in a foot race. They’ve just heard the most unbelievable news anybody’s ever heard. Jesus, alive again? You can imagine how their minds are spinning, hoping but afraid to hope.
John reaches the tomb first. The stone has been rolled away, just as the women said it was. He hangs back, panting in the cool morning air. But Peter is on his heels and—just as Peter always does—charges straight in. There are the cloths that were once on Jesus’s body. There’s the cloth that was around His head. Everything neat and quiet. Who would take away a dead body without taking the cloths it was wrapped in? They leave the tomb, still unsure about what has happened.
Have you ever been afraid to hope? It’s a terrible feeling when our hopes are disappointed. We’ve all been let down enough times that it’s no surprise when we prefer to take a cautious approach to the future. When Jesus does appear to the disciples, they’re in hiding, afraid for their lives.
But with God, “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19a, NIV), that the tomb is empty because Jesus has risen from the dead. God keeps His promises!
Because of this hope, Paul says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV).
Your labor is not in vain. Thanks to your generosity, more people every day are discovering the empty tomb and the Source of all hope. As they meet Jesus in God’s Word, they are transformed and their eternal future is secure. This Easter season, rejoice with us in the work God is doing through all of us—and don’t be afraid to hope for great things!
Geof Morin, President/CEO
