In Hope Of Eternal Life

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.

Titus 1:2

What is the widest possible meaning that spiritual hope can encompass?  If we consider spiritual hope as being that certain expectation of spiritual good coming to fruition by degrees, the possibilities are wide.  Paul refers to one of those possibilities in our text.  One of the elements of spiritual hope we have is eternal life.  Having said that, this cannot be life in its present configuration in which we participate in our present form.  For eternal life to mean anything, everything must be different, the location, the environment, the social structure, and the inhabitants.  This eternal state must include within it the Person Who has made it a practical reality for each of us personally.  Eternal life is a genuine spiritual expectation for all who are in Christ, but it involves our own spiritual transformation as well as everything else.  That is a transformation, which begins in time and escalates into eternity.  Eternal life has for us, in this sense already begun.  The spiritual life we are experiencing now is the preparation for much greater expectations, ‘in hope of eternal life.’

Our Good and Gracious God,
we rejoice that You have given us hope
in a future and better existence.
We praise You that this existence
rests upon the Person and work of Christ,
and will bring us to be with Him and like Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning