Here’s a question that probably deserves some seriously honest thought. What kind of beautiful Christian future do you really envision? Do you set your hope in all the bad people going away, or playing a harp on a cloud forever? Or on a more serious note, do we imagine an eternity of good weather and good food with peace and rest, or even being reunited with loved ones that have died? What’s the grand purpose of it all? What great part of the future makes the promise of Heaven so great?
Jesus in this passage describes the true picture of God’s beautiful end plan. In all things, God will be glorified. This is the story of the Bible! Even for creation alone, God deserved all glory. But then even when mankind sinned, and the consequences of a world without God were proven to be horrible, God displayed the greatest possible act of love by sending his Son to the cross to redeem us, and so God was glorified. Better yet, in the final day that we still await, God will display his power to conquer the ruling devil and turn all evil into redemption, and he will draw all of us into deep presence and love with himself. All our affections will be turned to him who fully deserves them, and we will worship him, and more than ever before, God will be glorified. This is a glorious future more beautiful than anything we could come up with. And it’s such a great future that as much as Jesus dreaded his death deep in his soul, he still obeyed his Father and faced the cross fearlessly so that this future would be ours.
We have in our Messiah a light that will surely never go out. Jesus told us to truly believe that, because in fact what we believe directs what we do. So if we believe that Jesus is the light of the world, and that we have hope in a guaranteed glorious future, and that our greatest good is to glorify the Lord and dwell in him with love, then we will naturally live our lives walking in the light. So believe until that glorious day comes, and walk fearlessly, lovingly, zealously in the light!
