What is it about a sunrise that radiates hope? Turning the page on your calendar, lighting a new candle, or opening a fresh bag of coffee might have a similar effect, as you begin again.
I enjoy the satisfaction of starting fresh, especially the undeserved opportunity to do so daily. Many evenings, my prayer is a mixture of gratitude and relief: Tomorrow is a new day.
No doubt, I would be utterly lost without God’s life-giving, life-changing redemption. Indeed, He is making all things new! Surely, He is doing a new thing!
What a picturesque paradise. I imagine creation restored, justice upheld, harmony reinstated. Beauty is pure, life is purposeful, humanity is sinless. Jesus is King, the light and source of all, and God is forever exalted on His throne.
I can only dream how stunning it will be to enter the glory of God and dwell there forever … to be in the company of the saints, that great cloud of witnesses that has persevered through the ages … to be robed in righteousness and seated at a table of endless grace and mercy … for all eternity.
God’s Provision: As if that were not a complete picture, that same perfection resides within each of us, as children of God! Throughout this life, we are purified through God’s process of making us more like Christ. Then one day, we finally see Him face to face!
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
– 1 Peter 1:3-9
Word of the Week: Consubstantial. A fancy word for likeness. Literally, “of the same substance or essence.” I can’t help but ponder how we assume the character and image of God through Christ and are forever enfolded in Triune fellowship.
We will at last be who we have been becoming this whole time.
"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is." – 1 John 3:2
