Now and Then

Scripture Reading: John 16:16-24

In Christ, we both face life as it is, and we live in hope for what shall be. Christians are realists. Speaking to the disciples in the Upper Room, Jesus didn’t sugarcoat what was about to happen. They would weep and lament and be sorrowful. There was no attempt on Jesus' part a smiley fact on things. These men would soon enter one of those “dark nights of the soul.”

In Christ, a grieving heart is not a hopeless heart. In Christ, there is the knowledge that “sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” In Christ, we “grieve but not as those who have no hope.” We are realists about this present moment and the sorrow and pain it inflicts, but we are also realists about the future and the pure joy that awaits.

By faith we can see joy rising like the sun on the horizon, scattering the heavy darkness of this night. We see Jesus coming and bringing with Him a joy that “no one will take from you.” We know that then, as Jesus plainly told his disciples, we will be like a mother who, after giving birth, forgets the pain of labor in the overwhelming joy of her newborn baby.

We are realists about today's sorrow, but we are also realists about tomorrow’s joy.