WEDNESDAY March 20th
Romans 8:18
‘For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.’
We return to the same verse again, but this time to look at the latter part, ‘compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.’
How often have we heard the saying when it comes to persevering at something, ‘keep your eye on the ball’. It means don’t let anyone or anything distract from achieving whatever it is you are seeking to do.
Well, as Christians we need firstly, to keep our eyes on Jesus, for he is the author and the finisher of our faith and secondly we need to keep our eyes on the future, and by this I don’t mean tomorrow or next week or maybe what we may be doing in a year’s time, but rather to keep our eye on eternity, for as we saw in the previous devotion from this verse the future will outweigh anything we experience here in the present. In fact, Paul says anything we undergo here is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Think of something that you had prepared for in this life, and you waited in anticipation for the day to arrive and when it did, you were so excited, and you ensured that you made the most out of the experience. And you look back and think wow it was worth all the waiting for.
Well, God has prepared what Paul calls ‘glory’ that will one day (although the word ‘day’ will mean nothing when it happens) will be revealed to us. And when we experience it, we will say ‘Wow, it was worth waiting for, all the suffering, all the difficult and trying times were worth it, in fact they have paled into insignificance.’
The other exciting thing is this, as I have already mentioned, the word day will not actually mean anything, for the glory that is to be revealed is not just for 24-hours, a quick period for us to enjoy and then it will all be over, it is going to be for eternity! For ever and ever! Doing what, being where? In the presence of almighty God, dwelling in his glory, worshipping around the throne, truly knowing what it is to be as the hymn writer of the best hymn to have ever been written, says, ‘Changed from glory into glory . . . lost in wonder, love and praise.’
We cannot really truly begin to imagine what it is going to be like, but one thing is for sure it is going to out of this world, God is going to be there, our wonderful Lord and Saviour is going to be there, and John in the book of Revelation tells us that there will be no more death, no mourning, no crying, no pain, for all that has been will have passed away and all things we be made new.
So, keep your eye on the ball, so to speak, keep focused upon Jesus and upon eternity. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.