Such Glorious Hope

I Jn. 3:2

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. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.

 

 

What glorious love the Father has given me when He made me His child! My ownership has gone from the worst possible alliance to the best possible relationship! I am new, born again, transformed in resurrection power! Even as great as this is, what I have to look forward to far outweighs where I am now. Such glorious hope! I will be like Him because I will see Him as He is. Finally, there will be no more Rom. 7 struggle. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. No more groaning... And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. This glorious hope is what I live for and long for! And an added blessing is that my hoping and longing purifies my soul as Jesus is pure. Amazing! Why is that? If I am longing for Him to come and take me with Him, then I am not longing for the world and what it has to offer. If my eyes are heavenward, then my path is not 'world-ward.' If I am soaking in His words and living in His promises, then I am not buying into the desires of my flesh and listening to its empty promises. I am truly being satisfied by Jesus, by the only One who can satisfy. Thankfully, He eliminates the frenetic quest for the perfect high, the American dream, the apex of the corporate ladder, the accumulation of wealth, possessions, and prestige, and so much more. He eliminates that constant searching! Jesus is my all, all that I will ever need or want!

 

Because of this great satisfaction and love, I can then be His hands and feet to those who are needy, who are struggling to find in the world what the world can never give, to give them an answer for their hopelessness and disappointment. But how far do I reach out? How much do I love? If He is in me, then I must love and live as He loved and lived. By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers...Little, children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. This loving and giving will reassure my heart before Him. This love will give me confidence in God, and whatever I pray, I shall receive. Of course I will, because I am praying as He would. Such oneness! And this is the commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another...Whoever keeps this commandment abides in God! My loving others in the name of Jesus, being His hands and feet to others is my way to abiding in God. What kind of hope and love is this that it transforms my selfishness to selflessness!

 

Father,

Even as I soak in these glorious truths, I see the reality of who I am, still selfish. Do a work in me! I confess that I often think only of myself. Change me. Let this glorious hope purify me. Give me Your strength to keep my eyes focused on the hope and not on the world or myself.

In Jesus name,

Amen