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Romans 8:18 NLT
“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
I recently had one of those ‘special’ birthdays. Big changes in my working life following 15 years with an organisation I had helped found and the uncertainty about what lay next had had their effect. I vacillated between anxiety in entering this sixth decade of my life and relishing all that it offered. Certainly for the first time I can remember I was aware of a sense of real change.
Now, I’m not sure if I’m normal or unusual, but I do on many occasions anticipate my final hours on this earth. I am excited at the thought of my death, since it will usher me into the presence and embrace of the One I’ve served and loved for 40-plus years of my life. I may be anxious over the manner of my death, but not of the event itself. I also strangely rehearse in my head what I want to say to my daughter and also to my wife.
Anticipating glory is something Paul encourages us to do. Often I am aware of being so captured by the anxieties of today and the related threats tomorrow might present, that I am completely earth-bound. I have as much chance of reaching for the stars as a deep-sea diver in his lead boots. When the greeting cards announce, ‘Your best years lie ahead of you’ they are not lying. However, they are not referring to our future eternal home, I know.
Not one of us can know what heaven and God’s immediate presence will be like, yet we can anticipate something of its majesty and splendour. Here every tear is wiped from our eye, every sorrow redeemed, every wound transformed into a trophy of grace. As I have emerged from a very quiet celebration, I have to make the effort to lift my eyes to gaze upon the risen Christ and anticipate the glory yet to be revealed to me.
QUESTION: Take a moment to acknowledge any disappointment, anger and uncertainty, then lift your head and gaze upon Christ.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you died not only to rescue me within the suffering we face, but you also unlocked an eternity free from tears and pain. Thank you.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright C 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc, Wheaton, Illinois 60189 USA. All rights reserved
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