Romans
8:18-27 – In our epistle lesson for
this coming week the Apostle Paul reminds us “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons
of God." - Romans 8:19
To persevere in present sufferings with hope, keep
your eyes on the future glory that God has promised us. Paul wants us to understand two certainties.
First, the present time is marked by sufferings because of
man’s fall into sin. This is a broken world.
Second, the future will be marked by glory for
believers as God fulfills all His promises to us. The practical conclusion; if
we keep our eyes on the future promised glory, then we can endure present
sufferings with perseverance and hope.
Keep your eyes on the future promised glory and you
will persevere in present sufferings with hope.
Paul anticipates us thinking, “But, I can’t see this future glory.” His reply is, “Yes, that’s the very nature of hope.” If
you can see it all, then it’s not hope.
Our salvation includes hope because we don’t receive
it all in this life. The hope of our salvation is not uncertain, as when we
say, “I hope it doesn’t rain on my picnic
tomorrow.” Rather, it is absolutely certain because of the many promises of
God, who cannot lie. But we hope for it because we have not yet received all
that has been promised.
Paul concludes, “But
if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
vs. 25 The key to persevering in suffering with hope is to keep your eyes on
the promised future glory.
Because of the corona-19
virus there have been very few live sporting events to attend. Highlights from
previous games have been aired.
If you’ve ever watched your favorite team live, or in
person, it's only natural to become anxious as the game progressed. Especially
if it was close. If your team fumbled, threw an interception, or made some
costly error you might have groaned because you didn’t yet know the outcome.
You hoped they would win, but your hope was uncertain. Maybe you even got
worried or anxious when they were far behind.
But if your team came from behind and won in the last
seconds of the game and later you watched a replay of the game, your whole
attitude is different. You don't despair when they fell behind. Because you
knew how it all would turn out. Knowing the certainty of the future glory gave
you hope to persevere through the setbacks.
It’s easy to become anxious or depressed in trials and
lost hope. That’s because we’ve forgotten the absolute certain outcome: future
glory forever with Christ!
Yes, there is present suffering because we live in a
fallen world, outside of Eden. But God has promised future glory. Keeping that
in view will enable you to persevere any suffering with hope.
Today Let us pray that we hold fast to hope as we are
anchored in Christ.
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