Sharing Hope With the Scattered

Editorial by Daniel Cabezas

I like meetings and seminars, where brothers and sisters gather to train and be trained in the name of God. These activities serve to recharge my spiritual batteries, make new friends and see old friends. It is at these types of events that I notice the immense variety of cultures and nationalities that comprise the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the New Jersey Conference being a beautiful example.

As I write, 1 Peter 1:1 comes to mind. In it, Peter refers to men and women who had to distance themselves from their homeland, very similar to some of us who moved to this country looking for a better place to live.

Despite distance and separation, Peter says there is a bond that unites us all, wherever we are. He tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3, NKJV).

According to this verse, we have a living hope. Hope that accompanies us, helps us and urges us to continue advancing on the road to our definitive homeland and eternity. This means we must feed it, take care of it and multiply it by bearing fruit in as many people as possible.

For this reason, when the New Jersey Conference refers to “Sharing Hope,” we are talking about giving to others what we already have, and showing them that, just as God has given us a new life, He can do the same for them. These two words are much more than a motto; they must be a way of life, a permanent reality in all those who, thanks to God’s divine mercy, have been reborn.

Maybe your passport, culture or nationality is different from mine, but if we’ve found
Jesus, we have the same citizenship, and we have been born again to live and share a glorious and wonderful hope.

Daniel Cabezas is the lead pastor of New Jersey Conference's Bridgeton Spanish Church.