Monday, August 3, 2009

The Future That Changes Everything

Romans 8.35, 37 (ESV)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

What could possibly cause someone to make a statement like that? We Christians love this passage for its (to us, at least) hyperbolic dismissal of the problems we face.

But try reading the first part of chapter 8. Four times during the chapter, the writer (Paul) builds his argument to point at Heaven. God, knowing how hard the human heart and mind are, inspired Paul to build a series of ramps. As I read, my attention is turned from Earthly, present realities to the Heavenly, eternal realities that reinterpret them. First, coming from a very human lament about sin in chapter 7, the relief of verse 11 is surprising.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

But the life promised didn't get my gaze fixed on Heaven just yet, so God began again.
From direction to live "by the Spirit," which I embrace but don't fully understand, my eyes are again pointed upward.

We are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Now I'm starting to get the picture. I'm easily directed Heavenward again when I read, we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. And I read that when I pray, God's Spirit is helping me. Not only that, but God makes sure that all things are working together for my good! But, rather than let me think that his help is only for the life I see around me, God places one last step at the end of the progression of what he's done for me.

...and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Glorified! the word calls to mind the account of the transfiguration, when Jesus' closest disciples got a glimpse of Heavenly bodies. But to eternally live this way, in intimate fellowship with the God who chose me, gave his life to save me, and now preserves and prepares me for that day.

What then shall we say to these things?

When taken together, even this short section of the Bible gives me such a view of my barely visible but glorious eternal future that the best and worst I can imagine for today or tomorrow is just a silhouette against the incomparable light.

God, keep me focused on the eternal reward you have prepared for the people you chose, called, and made your own. Don't let me be blinded by the trouble and seduction of the world my eyes can see, but let my view of eternity with you change the way I perceive the world.

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