“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons 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 glorious freedom of the children of God.” –Romans 8: 18-21 (NIV)
Sometimes we may wonder why we are placed in this world. When we have allowed Christ to invade our hearts and work out His redemptive purposes in our lives, we may ask for what purpose does He keep us here on this Earth? Everywhere we turn, we are confronted by the fact that the world in which we live is one marked by suffering and torment. Often this fact overwhelms us and we ask God why we must endure the horrors of this world; yearning for the pleasures we are promised in Heaven. But if our acceptance and desire to follow Christ is motivated solely on the basis of gaining a one-way ticket to Paradise, then we have subscribed to a highly individualistic view of the Christian life that is not within the will of God.
There is a specific reason as to why we are placed in this world. God has called His children to be active participants in His restorative mission for humanity. Far from retreating from the world and waiting for the day we enter Heaven, we are to abide ourselves in His love. When we do this, we are enabled and empowered by His Spirit residing within us to draw others to the hope that is available through Christ as His love overflows from our lives. While we can look forward to the blessings of meeting with God in Heaven, we must keep our eyes on the task at hand; to bring others into the knowledge of Christ so that they too may partake of the blessings and joy which come from knowing Him intimately. Though the world may weigh us down Christ has overcome the world, and we can be assured that through all the trials we may face in this life, He will be the one to sustain us because He is Life.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
