by Jordyn van Gaalen

The Freedom and Glory to Come

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“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
Romans 8:18-20 NIV

Creation is waiting in eager expectation. Think for a moment when those words have rung true for you in life. I picture Christmas Eve as a child (even to this day, if we’re being honest). I go back to those first days of elementary school, ready for a new year of learning and reuniting with friends. I think of being around my sisters as they neared the final weeks of their pregnancies. 

But nothing this side of heaven can compare to the expectation of the coming freedom and glory. Nothing can compare to finally reuniting with Our Father, Our Maker, Our God and Savior. 

We have been in bondage of decay. Creation has been in the bondage of decay. This isn’t a game of “Where’s Waldo.” It is all around us, clear as day. We see the resulting frustration from our fall from God, and in that frustration, a hope beyond all earthly hope has sprung up. The pain you’ve been feeling won’t compare to the joy that’s coming. The suffering that this life of decay presents has no hold on the life that is to come. We hold onto that anticipation when the nights get long and the days feel cumbersome. The offspring of David, Jesus Christ Himself, brought redemption. He is the reason that we have this hope. Eternal freedom is waiting with open arms. 

“No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.” – C.S. Lewis

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado