“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:2-5
Some people equate hope with wishing, and as everyone knows, sometimes wishes come true and sometimes they don’t. This makes hope seem like a tenuous thing to hold onto. A fragile thread that could snap between our fingers and plunge us into embarrassment and shame for being so foolish.
But what if hope was something different? What if our hope was a guarantee of what was going to come? Then, our hope would not be an anxiety-riddled wish. It would be an exciting anticipation of future events. It would still be hope, but we would be bouncing on our toes and peering around the people in front of us to see the incredible event that was about to occur. It would be a hope built on conclusive truths. An inevitability. A certainty. An undeniable conclusion. And this type of hope would transform our lives because instead of crossing our fingers, we would run with open arms and embrace the fulfilled promises in joy.
Even in the interim, as we endure suffering and develop character, waiting for this final day to come, we are not foolish, embarrassed, or ashamed, for we have a guarantee from God’s Spirit, poured into our hearts, that God’s love will not fail. God has a plan and an overarching purpose to one day remove the pain and suffering from this earth and give us an untarnished place to live. A place where we can explore without the threat of death. A place where we can learn and work and play without illness debilitating us, without selfishness impeding us, and without shame and fear restraining us.
It will be a place of continual joy because this finite, eternal person will finally have unending days to be all that God desires for him to be. It will be a place specifically and perfectly designed by God for us. And when this plan is fulfilled, we will not languish in disappointment, having built up a fantasy that exceeds reality. Nor will we release a sigh of relief, as if we barely escaped a horrendous fate. Instead, we will dance! We will exult! We will stand dumbstruck in the presence of a fulfilled promise that is immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).
It will be our eternal joy to sit on the grass and enjoy God’s friendship as well as explore the infinite breadth of His creativity and goodness spread across new and ever-expanding galaxies. In this place, we will relish the daily experience of life without any sin, death, or suffering. That’s why we call it Heaven. That’s why we look towards the future, instead of only at today. For we are “looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10) “Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation.” (Ps. 35:9) This is our confident, inevitable, undeniable hope.