What we believe about the future has a major influence on how we live now. Our hope in the future magnifies and clarifies our present purpose.
I Corinthians 15 makes it clear that if the resurrection of Christ is untrue, then we are miserable and pitiable people. We are deceived and without hope.
But, says Paul, Christ HAS been raised from the dead! He HAS given us victory over the power of sin and the sting of death. That is transformative.
Paul Tripp points out: “If all that sin has broken won’t be fixed forever, then there is no hope now and no hope in the hereafter. Without a guaranteed eternity, our faith in Christ is robbed of its meaning and power.”[1]
Christians are to trust in God’s promises and His sovereign power to achieve those promises. We will believe in the assurance of eternal redemption and renewal accomplished in the resurrection of Jesus.
These truths change our present. God promises to work on us; He is with us, in us, and for us. The resurrection guarantees the progressive defeat of sin in the here and now and the final deliverance from it in eternity.
This diminishes our disappointments and discouragements in the present moment; the future is secure.
Our contemporary world wants instant solutions and rapid judgments but believing in the God of future hope enables us to be patient and to persevere, knowing that our journey is purposeful and our destination secure.
“Through his resurrection, Jesus has purchased for us not only the guarantee of life after death but also the reality of life before death.”[2]
Blessings
Brian
[2] Paul Tripp, https://www.paultripp.com/wednesdays-word