Day 2374 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Colossians 3:4 NIV
The best is yet to come! That's the promise that we have in Christ. We step into a brand new life when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior and devote our lives to following Him and growing in our faith. The old lives that we once lived according to the world's priorities are dead and gone. He carried them to the cross and then to the grave where He left them behind. In doing so He set us free from everything we once did, everything we once knew, everything we once feared. There's a kind of total freedom in Christ that is truly unlike anything else!
We've been talking about how jacked up this world is and all of the frightening things that we're seeing unfold around us. Pandemics. Humanitarian crises. Continued hatred and division. Wickedness in countless forms. There seems to be an almost endless list of bad things in this place. And as we've discussed, it weighs on us. It's impossible to not notice what's happening and it's impossible to not be impacted by it in some way. Seeing so much unravel isn't an easy thing to watch and it can quickly lead to confusion, anger, and doubt. But we have to always remember that everything in life is temporary. Even life itself.
Friends, we don't have to live in fear of what still lies ahead. We don't have to live our lives at the mercy of everything going right. We don't have to worry about how bad things may become. This is not our home. These lives are not our only stop along this journey. Our time here, while seemingly long, is just a blink of an eye compared to the eternity that awaits. So while this road may get rough and this world may continue to crumble, we have the promise that something better is coming. We have the hope of a place where, "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain." We certainly have those things in abundance in this world. But not forever.
I wanted to share this one today because I know that so much of what we see is painful. So much of what we feel hurts. So many things in this place are wrong and we can't always understand why they're happening or how to fix them. But we do not have to live in fear. We don't have to carry the weight of uncertainty or worry. Our lives are hidden in Christ. Our surrender to His authority, our faith in His salvation, and our devotion to following and serving Him have punched our ticket to something better. That's what we need to always keep in mind. Yes things around us are disconcerting, but His promise is reassuring. And nothing will change that promise!
The problem is that so many are trying to live their best lives now. They're trying to carve out these perfect lives in a very imperfect place. Those two opposites are clashing bad! It's hard to live your best life right now when so much bad is happening. It's hard to find ultimate peace in a world that has very little peace to offer. It's hard to focus on our personal desires and dreams when so many are living a nightmare around us. So we need to start thinking bigger. Not here and now. Not what makes our lives here more comfortable. No, our focus needs to be on strengthening our relationship with Christ because He is where our best life is found!
Just know that it's all going to turn out better than we can possibly imagine. That can be hard to envision when it seems like things are only getting worse all the time. But God hasn't given up His plans or changed His promises. We know where the road of our faith leads. And whether it's long or short, hard or easy, comfortable or scary, the destination remains the same. So please don't give up hope. Don't let go of the faith that reassures us that something better is on the way. They say that it's always darkest just before the dawn. So while this world may get darker, that just means that the dawn is going to be even more amazing when the Son rises!
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