Eternal hope: 'Nice' – or much more?

As we look forward to celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday, and indeed on every Lord’s Day, we are reminded that we are a people of hope.

The apostle Peter reminds the early churches that we have a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1Peter 1:3).

But what difference does that make in everyday life? You know the familiar jibe that Christians are so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use. Is our eternal hope just a nice reassurance to us, to be pulled out as death approaches? Or does it transform the way we live in this world, so that others notice the difference?