Until Then

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Revelation 21:4 NIV

Job 14:1 tells us, How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! And some days, it's seems like that's all there is. Proverbs 13 acknowledges that Hope deferred makes the heart sick...

But our Promise for Today - no more death or mourning or crying or pain! Can we even imagine that?!? 

Stuart Hamblen wrote a great old hymn titled, Until Then, talking about life and the struggles we endure while on this earth. Great words of wisdom and encouragement, reminding us that "a heartache here is but a stepping stone..." and "this troubled world is not my final home."  And in the chorus, he wrote of what he would do until God called him home. 

"Until then, my heart will go on singing!
Until then, with joy I'll carry on until the day my eyes behold that City - Until the day God calls me home."

1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV cheers us on toward that day with this faithful promise, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Until then...

Prayer:

Father,
          Let us walk in the light of Your love, forgiving as You have forgiven us. Loving because You first loved us. Looking to the Christ - the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Help us to follow His example. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen