our hope & expectation

I chose the title of my blog because it embodies one of Jesus' promises that I most long to see fulfilled. In Revelation 21:5, Jesus says, "I am making everything new!" The significance of this verse? It's one of the snapshots we're given in Scripture of what the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan looks like - when all that is broken in this world will be restored completely. Many days my heart aches for that reality - both because of the brokenness in my own life, as well as the brokenness I see everywhere I look in the world around me.

For now, however, we live in the "already, but not yet" of God's Kingdom. The good news is that God's redemptive work began with Jesus' resurrection. The even better news is that it didn't stop there, but continues now, today - in our real-time circumstances. And the best news is that this restoration will be completed when Jesus returns, when all things in heaven and on earth will be made new!

On my better days, my prayer is that I will see God's renewal in the now - and that I will jump in and be part of the ways He is at work making things new right now. What a privilege that He allows us to be part of that. One thing I love is seeing this theme of restoring broken things appear in different places - sometimes it's in conversations, others in a verse or a song, and other times in everyday circumstances. At church a few weeks ago, there was a verse of a hymn that articulated this theme so well . . . lyrics are below.

from Rejoice, Rejoice Believers!
by Laurentius Laurentii, 1660-1722

Our hope and expectation
O Jesus, now appear!
Arise, Thou Sun so longed for,
o'er this benighted sphere.
With hearts and hands uplifted,
we plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth's redemption
that brings us unto Thee.