Present Suffering and Future Glory

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

Romans 8:18-21. The Message

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

For Reflection

"Keep your eye on the ball," one man told his son.  (Sage advice for all Christians.) Our eye should be focused on the glory of the day when all the world will rejoice in the glory for which we hope.  We suffer in our human condition today, but we look for a tomorrow that is one hundred times more joyous than today is painful.

Pray

Pray that you will find comfort in the fact that in the end, God will triumph and that you will not have suffered for God's sake in vain. Pray for all Christians who hold tenaciously to their faith in the face of terrible persecution.