Living in the Now, Hoping in the Not Yet

“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” Philippians 3:20-21

The gospel is the unifying force that crosses cultural and socioeconomic boundaries. Through the cross of Christ, we all have the same hope. Poor or rich, hungry, lonely, overworked or underpaid, incompetent or talented, drowning in debt, mentally unstable, overweight or athletic- all of us are hoping and longing for new, glorious bodies in which we will be like Him. All searching, longing, struggling, and striving will be satisfied in Him. And the displacement we all feel at times in this world will be no more, because we belong with Him.

We will see His ultimate redemptive power in the world, and we will experience true life through the resurrection of these tired, old bodies. The result will be an unending celebration of His glory and power. “Behold, He is making all thing new.” Oh, what a day when we can stand before Him and say, “You have made all things new!”

All things will come under His benevolent, compassionate, omnipotent rule. There will be peace. There will be justice. The world will be made right. We will rejoice over the work of His hands; work that, even now, is beyond our wildest imaginations. We will fully understand the depth and damage of sin because we will revel in His new, perfect world- a world where all glory is rightly placed on the Creator.

The light and joy of that coming day makes our current struggles dim in comparison. (Lord, keep our eyes and our hearts focused on this future hope!) Since we can place our trust in the hope of the promised, glorious return of our Savior, we can rejoice in our sufferings and even help to carry the weight of suffering for others. This means that today we can move confidently into the difficult,  challenging circumstances of others. Jonathan Edwards once said, “If our neighbor’s difficulties and necessities are much greater than ours and we see that they are not [likely] to be relieved, we should be willing to suffer with them and to take part of their burden on ourselves. …[or] how do we bear our neighbor’s burdens when we bear no burden at all?”

By living in the now, but hoping in the not yet, we can willingly and humbly lay down our time and our resources for the good of those around us. When our hope is rightly placed, we can help the single mother next door by providing free childcare. We can donate our professional skills to a local nonprofit. We can spend less of our money on ourselves and more on those in need. All because the day of ultimate redemption and restoration is coming. The sacrifices we make now will be revealed as light, momentary afflictions in comparison to the eternal weight of glory that is coming.

“So we don’t look at the troubles we see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things the we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

-Megan Gaminde