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The times in which we live are often described as "unprecedented." The word might be overused, yet the last few years have seen exceptional healthcare challenges, loss of human life, economic disruption, and political turmoil. We are now in the second year of novel coronavirus and its global impact. Most people either know someone who died from the virus or have experienced its nefarious effects in other ways--illness, unemployment, school and border closures, shortages, confinement, addiction, fear, anxiety. Families were separated from loved ones who died alone in hospitals and nursing homes. We wait for a return to normal or a new normal and live with the lingering suspicion that life will never be the same. Where do we look for hope? As Christians, our ultimate hope is in God and his promises. Christians have dual citizenship, earthly and heavenly. On earth they want what most people want--security, satisfaction, and significance--and desire a better world. Christians also assert that this world order will pass away and every person will live somewhere forever. These messages from God's word seek to point Christians and non-Christians to Jesus Christ as the only one who provides genuine, eternal hope.
About the author
Stephen M. Davis is an elder at Grace Church in Philadelphia (gracechurchphilly.org). He holds a PhD in intercultural studies from Columbia International University and a DMin in missiology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of several books including three on French history: Rise of French Laicite in the Evangelical Missiological Society Monograph Series, The French Huguenots and Wars of Religion, and French Protestantism's Struggle for Survival and Legitimacy (1517-1905).
