HOPE BEYOND OUR DISAPPOINTMENTS

I couldn’t even guess how many times over the years I’ve talked with people about the losses and pains and disappointments of their lives in this world. They talk about their lives “falling apart,” or “falling to pieces.” And I’ve found that there is one biblical passage I come back to more than any other when I think of offering some assurance. It is a kind of map of all of life, and within its edges are the promises of life beyond this life. But I mostly turn to it because it so accurately captures the truth that though this world is bound to corruption, God and his undying love are the stable core of life, and out of that love, God is one day going to remake this world, and remake us. Then there will be no more tears.
The passage is Romans, chapter 8:

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. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:18-25, NIV).