A foretaste of future glory ...

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if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ... And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
-Romans 8:17-18,23 NLT

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King Solomon once wrote that God "has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end" In a very real sense human beings somehow understand that there is more to life than this fleshly existence on planet earth. Life can be so hard and suffering can hit us so deeply. We all groan for something better. We long for a time when our tears will be dried and our pain will be a thing of the past.

In this passage Paul writes about a foretaste of heaven. He tells us that the Holy Spirit within speaks to us of something greater than this life we are now living. It reminds me of the many times that I have heard the Spirit speak to the deepest part of me. In times of pain He speaks with such a comforting and reassuring voice. And in worship I am often brought into His beautiful presence. These things remind me that I do not hope in vain for that future glory.

Come Holy Spirit. Please comfort those who suffer. For those who are desperate I ask you to give them hope.

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