Future Glory!

I like Mondays. Because I do not work until 5pm at the studio. I take my mornings slow: sleep till 8 or 8:30, eat some breakfast, do some reading, go grocery shopping. Then after lunch, I take champ to the park &/or go work out, finish some laundry, watch a Rachel Ray episode, lay out if it's nice or clean if it's overcast (weather dictates). But my favorite thing about Mondays is the ample amount of time I have to meet with Jesus. Some Mondays I don't use this time wisely but today I'm off to a great start and feel better about going forward already.

I was reading in Romans this morning about our painful, present circumstances that we all have in our lives and how they can not compare to the future glory that will be revealed in us....IN US! We will be made new. We, God's saints, will receive a reward from God. Why? Because He chose us, loves us and it brings Him glory to do so. I then read on about how creation is in constant groaning and waiting to be restored and delivered from it's inevitable decay. Even the trees and bushes and flowers are looking forward to the Day when they are "liberated from the bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." But their bondage is not an earthly bondage; theirs is a spiritual bondage. They are in complete submission to Christ even when they aren't producing fruit or die. I think it's so cool that our mighty Creator is intimately concerned about the grass, the wildflowers on the side of the road and the rushing waters. Even they have a part in God's redemptive story. Let's read on: 8:22-25 "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."



"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20-21

God is all about some "Divine Delays" to teach us to trust Him. I don't know if I'm waiting patiently as v.25 says, but I am waiting eagerly. It's weird to think about having a glorious body. Sounds pretty awesome- but weird. The truth is we can't imagine the joy and honor that comes with receiving a body like Christ's but I guess I wouldn't want to b/c then my mind would think it could dream up something "better" and there is nothing better than being made into the exact form of Christ in all his divinity! The New Jerusalem is more than my mind can handle but I know it will be wonderful and fulfill all my heart's longings because Jesus will be there and He is precious to me. He becomes more precious to me as I learn to let go of things He takes away. Refining is painful. Creation's decay is painful. But it's all a part of God's redemptive story to make all things new again on the Day of His return!