We realize our view of chaos, order, imperfection, and turbulence may differ from yours. We are doing our best to provide clarity to what we believe to be our Creator’s plan within the challenges we face. We invite you to sift your ideas as well as ours through the grid of the God Story.
We make much reference to the Bible, but it is important you know we are searching the woven threads of God’s Word for God’s commentary on suffering, imperfection, and beautiful, ultimate hope. If God does not have answers to these questions, where does it leave us?
It can be deeply sobering or even disturbing to contemplate turbulence and imperfection. We have attempted to consider the role of suffering within the backdrop of God’s good purposes for us. There is something in our Father’s nature which amplifies contrast. For instance, if there is going to be value from good news, it is best understood when set alongside bad news. It is a relief to know significant things will be made right – and to experience this hope within our souls.
The core purpose of the entire Story is to prepare us for a massive pivot: the culmination of the hopes and dreams of millions! What has been, all that is, and all that is yet to come will soon find their realization. The Lamb of God is ready to take away the sin of the world! Revelation 21:1-7 tells us how this will look:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is completed. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
Implicit in this picture of imperfection and turbulence is an understanding of glory.
Consider 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It is literally, an unburden-some weight. What we carry here is heavy. What we carry there will be light and filled with substance we have never seen.
When this pivot occurs the very nature of heaven will become our reality. As we have mentioned before, we will reign with Christ (2 Timothy 2).
√ Is this something you look forward to?
√ What do you perceive will be your role in such a reality?
√ What connections do you see between hope and glory?
Looking forward with you,
Dave and Burnadette