Eight Hope Builders for College Corner Kids: #3 - People

Hello folks,
It will be VBS time before you know it! In the mean time here is the third installment of an eight part series discussing what it takes to give hope to kids in CC.

People

St Augustine made this profound comment..."Without God man cannot and without man God will not." What do kids need to give them the hope of Christ in College Corner? People. God's loves people and his plan was/is for there to be a lot of us:

Gen. 1:28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.

God made all kinds of people - tall, skinny, weak, strong, smart, not so smart, homely, pretty, etc. With so many different kinds of people you logically have those who make their way in life and those who struggle making their way. God wants people to help each other along the way, especially those who "have" to help those who "have not.":

Leviticus 25:35 “If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you.

Deuteronomy 15:4 “There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession.

Those who are blessed with enough resources should bless those who do not have enough resources. When we bless people who are in need, and those stuck in the bleak cycle of poverty, we point them to God and help to build their hope in him:

Psalm 42:5 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and 6 my God!

When we point people to God guess what happens? ...He points them to us!

Colossians 1:27 And this is the secret: Christ lives in you.

Christ is in us! We work with him to give hope - is that cool or what! As we live out our faith the reality of the living Christ becomes visible and tangible to those who need hope:

2 Corinthians 5:19 And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

During this summer's VBS we share the message of Christ and the hope he gives - but not just hope for 3 days, or 3 weeks or 3 years but eternal hope! kids see hope through people in the community - us - we encourage and show the kindness of Christ every day so that their hope builds that they can indeed be all that God intended for them to be in this life and in the life to come!