A Fair Trade

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10)

O Lord. Let this verse sink into my soul and take deep root in my thinking. This is the hope to which we were called. Thank you for calling us to yourself in Christ, that we might experience your love and grace. The troubles of this present life should be regarded as nothing compared to the surpassing glories described:

To be restored by you. O to be remade! To have all the sin, hurt, fear burned away and reforged into a new creation. When I bewail my current state of doublemindedness, when I feel the old and new man tugging at my mind, fighting for mastery, this verse will bring me courage. Restored is defined as “bringing back a previous state, to reinstate.” I will be made whole, without a touch of the old broken self. To walk with you in the new heavens and new earth, talking with you. Come quickly Lord.

To be confirmed. To be taken gently by the hand, and told that we are safe. There is no guarantee here in this brief and tumultous life, but this… this is a promise to which to look forward. To be confirmed is described as to be “firmly established in a particular habit, belief, or way of life and unlikely to change.” Hallelujah.

To be strengthened. To never again worry and doubt, or feel victimized and terrorized by sin within and without. To be buoyed up by the power and strength of our Savior, never to falter or fall again.

To be established. I love this one. To be established is to be “set up in a firm or permanent basis.” We are going to be in your glory for all eternity… what more firm or permanent basis can I ask for? Life may change, friends come and go, positions and jobs fall out from under my feet but my soul is established in you, now and forever.

I will take this trade, Lord. I will exchange the suffering for a short while for a permament, established, strengthened, perfect existence with you. Whisper this promise in my ear as I'm tempted to despair today. Allow me to live as one who has traded everything for this one, precious pearl, and not as one grasping for grip on a house made of sand. I pray this for myself, and for the ones I love in your precious name, amen.

Image: Terebithia by me