Glory to be Revealed.

I like for everything in life to be straight-forward and definitive. I get irritated when things are ambiguous rather than simple as I think they ought to be. I want things to be easily discernible, black and white--not a fuzzy tint of gray.

But sometimes inexplicable duality exists. And sometimes its beautiful. Like the times when the sun is shining, but rain pours forth from the clouds anyway. I wouldn't trade those moments of meteorological indecision for anything, because it's when the sun shines and the rain falls simultaneously that we witness the beauty of a rainbow.

Today has been anything but the straight-forward and definitive that I so love. It's been full of things bigger than I know how to handle. Full of emotions that don't seem to mix. Today was burdened by the sadness of loss and death, but it was also overflowing with the promise of eternal life in Jesus.

Happinesss and sadness are such polar opposites that it hardly seems possible for both to occupy our minds at one time. But sometimes...just sometimes they entertwine. In this sweet duality, I found a perfect picture of Jesus today.

Sadly, our life is fleeting and ephemeral. None of us is long of this world, but the things of this world will soon pass. A dear friend once told reminded me that we are eternal beings...we won't last forever in this life, but our souls were created to exist into eternity. She mused that perhaps this eternality of our nature is what makes death so painful. Death ultimately has no power over us, for Christ has conquered. As 1 Corinthians 15:55 so boldly declares, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Death is unable to rob us of our life, but because we are created to exist eternally, death brings an unnatural and painful separation.

But the sadness brought by death's separation never comes alone. It is always accompanied by the joy and peace of Christ. We can know that our savior has conquered, that eternity awaits. In this duality of joy and sadness, the Gospel is the most evident. And for those of us who have placed our lives in Christ, we can find hope in the darkest of times, for as Paul wrote in Romans 8:18 "
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Though sadness and joy may mingle in this life, no suffering we face on earth is worth comparing to the Glory that is to be revealed to us. Therefore, let us walk with Jesus and live with our eyes fixed on eternity.