Thursday, July 31, 2008

How can hope for the future help me live today?

What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse.
All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering.
We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom.
For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it.
But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.
Romans 8:18-25 NLT

"Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life."
Matthew 19:29 NLT

Facing trials
We have strength and courage to face the trials of this life because we can look beyond them to the glory that God has in store for us.
We know the sacrifices we make now will be rewarded by God.

Adapted from The Promise Bible (Tyndale House) p A53

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