Today's horoscope:

"Don't bother with it, these things are just made up!"

And yet so many people read them and believe them. Why? Because they're looking for some advantage in their life, some way to get rid of the doubt that creeps into life.

But the stars do hold out hope that we don't have to worry about the future. To explain, you have to go back several thousand years to the days of Abraham. Abraham had been promised by God that he would have a child. But Abraham was getting along in years, and still no child. He was starting to doubt that this was going to happen. So God showed him the stars and said, "Try to count them. So shall your offspring be." The message was he would indeed have a family, and one that was so big he could hardly count it.

The next part of the story is arguably the most important part: Abraham believed the LORD and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Above everythign else, God wants us to believe in him. But you know that you don't win anyone over to your point of view by harassing them. You can only share your message and try to win them over. That's what God was doing with Abraham. He was holding out his promises to him, and in spite of Abraham's doubts, God won him over, and Abraham was considered righteous by God--perfect.

God's promises deliever God's blessings. That's why he holds them out to us this Easter season (and always!). God promises forgiveness to us because Jesus rose from the dead. God promises peace with him and peace in our hearts from guilt and shame and remorse and anxiety because he has taken away our sin and given us a new life. Those promises he holds out to us today so that we would believe him and by believing him would be considered righteous.

Just like Abraham looked at the stars and was reminded of God's great love for him, you and I look at the promises that God has laid out for us in his word and we find that same love. God wins us over with his promsies, and we are saved from sin.

So keep looking at the stars. Not the worhtless ones in the horoscope, but the "stars" of God's promises.