Evil and good both display something about God

¹Both the depth of evil actions or height of great (good) achievement displays the greatness of God. 

How? The void within that drives those to great harm (evil) or ²"great good" is so vast, what is required to fill it must be equally vast i.e. the greatness of the void that drives them is because of the greatness of God. To say it another way, our capacity for God is such that the void left by His ³absence is in proportion to His greatness, i.e. the greater the object, the greater the hole (void) left by its absence. The greater the hole, the greater the vacuum it creates and energy/action required to fill it; energy used both to inflict great harm or achieve ²"great good." As a result, ⁴the most gifted are able to go to great extremes - both good or bad - in an attempt to fill it.

Our desire for meaning, purpose, and value is insatiable - i.e. infinite - resulting in extreme behavior.  Regardless, lasting meaning and purpose can only be filled by the infinite, i.e. something infinitely great, not something temporary.

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¹What I am addressing is extreme effort and results are the fruit of exceptional ability coupled with an extreme desire for greatness, power, achievement, etc. Good and evil come from the same place with rare exceptions (see the next footnote for the exception). What many call good is driven by the same void; the same absence of God that drives evil conduct. It may be "good" on the surface, but it still comes from a need to fill a void, not the result of being full and overflowing in goodness to others. 

²Not all "good" actions are driven by the absence of God and the need to fill the void created by that absence. Some people are driven truly to give, not get-take. But they are those rare, "sold out" believers and followers of Jesus who are so captured by His love, they do all things for His honor and often do so unsung, because the good they do is to bring glory to God out of love for him and others, not to obtain (or seek) fame and the praise of others. The world could care less about God's glory and therefore about these worshipers of God. In fact, they are often ridiculed as foolish for being so "God-obsessed." 

And how is it possible to do things solely for God's glory? Because of Christ, God - in the vastness of His infinite love - is present again (as originally intended) via His Spirit where the void used to be. And once He is, it is for us to believe this with every fiber of our being and all the implications of His being present. 

³this absence is not due to God being unavailable but to our rebellious refusal to recognize it is He alone who must fill the void, resulting in our looking only to him to do so.

⁴the drive of those who are able to accomplish the greatest harm or good is coupled with great abilities as well. We all are driven to fill the void left by God's absence (simply stated, we were not designed to be empty. Vacuums are not normal but evidence of something absent). However, only a few are skilled enough to have a more significant impact than most i.e. only a few have the abilities to carry out great harm or "good" because of the great gifts/skills they have been given and use for their own ends, not God's. 

I am also addressing "good" as defined by the world; those highly "successful" in their field of endeavor, "superstars" such as high-profile entertainers, actors, artists, musicians, athletes, business tycoons, etc. These are individuals who have an impact in their particular field of endeavor (for good or harm), and leave a clear and significant mark on history. In fact, it is the desire to leave this mark that often drives them i.e. they are driven by the desire for their own fame and glory, not God's. 

I would add all of us are driven in the same way without the love of Christ moving us to action i.e. absent God's love, we are driven to fill the void of God's absence. The difference I am addressing is some have a greater skill set, be it temperament, natural abilities (musical, athletic, verbal, creative, intellectual, etc), and such, and can therefore have a greater-more significant impact on the world than others. 

The necessity of hope

No one operates without hope. We all must have it. Without hope, we give up trying to accomplish things. Once we lose hope we quit.

What is hope? It is ¹anticipation or expectation -- sometimes absolute confidence -- of obtaining what we do not yet have, that we believe will give us the greatest sense of meaning, importance, worth, significance, etc. The common emotion we experience when we obtain this is happiness. 

To say it another way, hope is driven by finding what we believe is missing that will make us most happy if and when we find it.

What is it about us that causes us to need and seek hope? Why is having hope so essential, so much so that we will end our life if we no longer have it? What is missing that creates a desire to always look for something to satisfy us; to fulfill our hope? ²Why do we hope at all?

Hope is so much a part of our makeup, even in suicide someone is operating out of hope.

Ironically, they hope to end the pain of no longer having hope. They have lost hope of finding any true or lasting meaning, purpose or significance. They feel totally helpless, useless, and worthless. The pain of their present existence is greater than their hope of finding relief from it. They are driven by a desperate hope that ending their present state might stop the screaming pain of no hope and give them peace. When we say, ³"rest in peace" (R.I.P) when someone leaves this "veil of tears" we are expressing this very thing. The hope that our life ending will finally stop the unsuccessful pursuit to relieve the pain of disappointment, fear, loss etc.

Hope for the unbeliever

Ultimately, hope for the unbeliever is the satisfaction of their thirst for meaning, purpose, and value occurring when they obtain wealth, fame, power influence, a life partner or  ____________  (fill in the blank), etc.  Outside of Christ and His infinite love, all our energy, and creativity, all our endeavors and enterprises are driven by this hope.

If our hope is a specific goal, such as "one day I will be or have the best this or that' -- 'get that perfect job' -- 'find the perfect partner' -- 'become a multimillionaire' -- 'win the Olympics' - or whatever we believe will give us the greatest sense of meaning,, significance, purpose etc. - and when I do, I will finally find real happiness." 

Ironically reaching a major life goal can result in the opposite of what is hoped for - i.e. despair, not happiness. After great struggle and effort someone finally reachs what they hoped would give them some anticipated meaning or significance, only to find it ⁴does not give them the satisfaction and peace they'd hoped for. 

We sometimes hear of those reaching the pinnacle of their dreams and goals only to become totally disenchanted. Then trying to numb the pain of this new discovery through substance abuse, often winding up overdosing or taking their own life. 

Think of all the ⁵celebrities who have struggled with substance abuse after reaching wealth and fame. Their life ended as a result. 

These are people our culture admires and looks up to with the greatest regard/ admiration. After all, they have "made it" in life. 

Yet, they are miserable more often than not and sometimes more than ever. This is true far more than we like to acknowledge. To acknowledge this means we are hoping for the wrong things.

Existentialism. Man's solution to hope in a postmodern world.

The existentialist says there is no real objective purpose or meaning to our existence. Yet everything within us objects and screams out against this. We are compelled to have meaning and hope. We must have it! So much so that this world view says we must create it even when their belief system doesn't allow for it. 

So how does the existentialist handle this dilemma? They tell you to create a sense of meaning (subjectively) by doing things that make you feel meaningful and significant, i.e. create meaning by acting as if there is meaning even though their world view says it is a myth. Do something that gives you a sense of meaning and purpose even though the universe, including us, is truly pointless and a big cosmic accident that came about by chance. 

Existentialism demonstrates that hope is such a necessary part of our makeup, we must somehow create it even though it is totally incompatible with their world view.

So hope for the existentialist is creating a sense of meaning through my actions in an otherwise meaningless existence.  i.e. we must create meaning through our existing in a meaningful way, even though our existence is meaningless according to them. For the existentialist, there is no real absolute and objective truth or meaning; no objective, transcendent purpose. It is purely subjective. 

The expression "If it feels good, do it" - so prevalent today - is the "fruit" of this world view. Purpose, significance, or meaning is based solely on my experience not on any absolute objective reality that any of these are real since no such reality exists for the existentialist. 

Suicide is not uncommon among those who adopt this philosophy. For Camus (a highly regarded existentialist) - since there is no real objective meaning in the universe - "Should I kill myself?" was the essential and nagging philosophical question.

The believers hope

The ultimate hope for the believer is full satisfaction of purpose, meaning, and significance when we are face to face with Christ, the Creator - our relentless, boundless lover. It is a belief in this promise that fuels the believer's hope and actions.

This raises and addresses the question and dilemma of what is the legitimate motive for acting. Is it because, as believers, we ⁶already experience partial fulfillment in anticipation of complete fulfillment or because we are in search of something in order to be fulfilled as nonbelievers? 

The former results in acting out the hope of fullness, the latter out of emptiness. We are driven either by a desire to honor God because we already have absolute and perfect meaning through the promise/hope of eternal meaning/bliss in and with Him or the hope for some kind of meaning now through our efforts.

(ESV)  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

(KJV)  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

(NASB)  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

(AMP)  NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

(ERV)  Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see.

(GNB)  To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.

For a discussion on how this life is full of trouble click here. 

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¹There appears to be different kinds or levels of hope. "I hope so" would probably be the weakest and most common meaning we give that word. It's more wishful thinking than a rock-solid certainty. This is commonly what is meant when hope is used in casual conversation. 

Anticipation and expectation are a little stronger. This would be what a kid feels leading up to Christmas. Though they don't have their gifts yet, they are sure they will because they have always received them in the past and believe they will again because of past treatment. 

This video (click here) is revealing -- and possibly a humorous or cruel example of how significant hope is when kids get something other then what they hoped for at Christmas or their birthdays. This is not something we have to teach kids. Hope is an inherent part of our makeup. 

The strongest form of hope is absolute certainty. This is usually how hope is used in the bible. What you hope for is so certain it's as if you already have it when you do not yet i.e. the only piece missing is you don't yet have what you hope for but are 100% sure you will. The reason for the certainty is it is based on the unchangeable nature of the one making the promise i.e. God Himself and the actions He has already taken -- by sending Jesus -- as rock-solid proof He already loves us and will fufill what he promised. God has already acted in a way that assures us he will come through on what we are told is yet to come. 

Men make promises but they are not all-powerful and may not be able to keep them. God, however, is absolutely able and therefore always true to His word/promise. He not only has the intent (love) to do what He promises, but the ability (power) to accomplish it and also knows exactly (wisdom) what is needed. 

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²For a discussion of what it is we are all after click here.

³It is ironic that there is a universal sense -- though not always a conscious one -- that no one is permanently at peace in this life. Hence the wish for someone to rest in peace (R.I.P.) after dying. This is a back handed way of acknowledging life is a struggle and often full of turmoil. It is worth pointing out this expression began when the notion that someone who was a follower of Christ was headed for heaven - a place of perfect rest and peace - was much more commonly held. We still use the expression even though certainty of a blissful afterlife is far less common. The idea is we feel we must leave this life to be free from our restlessness -- or at least hope we will be. Complete uninterrupted peace in this life is elusive at best. Therefore we hope for it after this life.

⁴Or the thrill quickly fades so we redouble our efforts to achieve it again, or try something else in an attempt to find a better thrill and temporary rush of happiness -- or relief of pain. The fact that we go after it, again and again, indicates we never actually find it -- at least not in a lasting way -- yet hope we still can.  

⁵It's not that celebrities have more struggles. We all struggle. But it's because, more than the average person, they obtain what we all hope for and experience it first hand -- unlike most of us -- and then - to their dismay - find it doesn't deliver on its promises. To say it concisely, what they had hoped for they achieved but it still didn't work. 

⁶Though we will not experience complete fulfillment in this life, it is the anticipation of it, that gives us hope and joy. 

Like God but not

We are like God, His image bearers, but in time -- i.e. created, not eternal. Christ bears God's image eternally - no beginning or end - and we everlastingly with no end but a beginning. Christ is the only eternally begotten and perfect (exact) image bearer of the Father and we are image bearers who are begotten ¹in time. 

This, in part, is why God can love us with the same kind of love he loves his Son. Both Christ and ²we are in God's image. Because of this, both reflect the Father in a way nothing else can. 

Christ is called our elder brother for good reason. Christ is the eternal Son of God, and if we are in Him, we are the everlasting sons and daughters of this same God. But children nevertheless. 

What is fascinating is since there is no time with and for God and he knows all things, we eternally existed in the mind of God before we became a conscious being, with self-awareness, at a specific point in time.

Our coming into being was real nevertheless because prior to our actual existence, even though God knew us, we were not conscious i.e. We did not know God because we had no existence and the awareness that comes with it - a part of our experience that occurred only when we came into being . Nor did we have interaction with God - a part of both Christ's and our experience -- even though God was fully aware of us with all our unique attributes and skills - as if we already existed - and also aware of all of our days before they actually occurred. See Psa 139. 

For a further discussion on time click here. 

For a further discussion of the value of being in God's image click here. 

For a further discussion on what distinguishes us from others click here.

For a discussion on Christ being the only begotten Son of God click here. 

For a discussion on the significance of the incarnation, click here. 
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¹Certainly there are many other aspects that distinguish Christ from us. The most obvious being He is God along with all the incommunicable attributes associated with God -- all knowing, all powerful, sovereign to name some main ones. 

As God, Christ is also co-Creator with the Father. We are mere creatures, but creatures that are like God in very significant ways nevertheless. 

²Of course, many of our other attributes, as well as time, do not match Christ's. We are not the all knowing, all powerful co-Creator of all things; Christ alone is. 

Transformed by glory

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he (Christ) appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3

As children of our loving heavenly Parent (God), we are cherished. Yet, we are still not complete/mature but only infants or very young children at best. Who we are created to be, has not yet been fully realized or revealed to ourselves or others.

Our "becoming" who we are ultimately designed to be won't be complete ¹until we see God in all the fullness of His love, beauty, majesty, worth... in a word, His glory. To see Him in this way, through direct experience - face to face - will perfectly confirm first-hand (not just by faith) that God is for us. 

We know He's for us now, but only by faith (sometimes it feels like He's against us). We will know then, by sight. We have only been told what Christ did for us, and we believe it. We weren't there to see and experience firsthand his earthly ministry - as well as his death, burial, and resurrection. ¹When we step into eternity, He will be right in front of us and we in front of him, looking into each other's eyes. We will see the scars in His hands, feet, and side as evidence of His love for us personally for the first time. 

We see this transformation mentioned in the above passage but also alluded to in the following two passages.

Now:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. II Cor 3:18

In eternity:

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. I Cor 13:12

All three passages speak of beholding Christ and how this transforms us. It is either implied or stated directly that this seeing is presently ongoing and progressive, but also incomplete. 

Whether this seeing occurs now or in eternity, these passages tell us seeing is the means or mechanism by which we are changed. Something about Christ, who he is in the fullness of his glory and particularly who he is for us, becomes clear (complete) in a way it is not now. Seeing Christ results in our transformation in ever-increasing degrees now, but will only occur completely in eternity. 

In what way will we be like him?

3 related questions:

*What is it about seeing Christ fully as he is that transforms us?

*How are we not seeing him now? 

*In this seeing, how are we not simply transformed but specifically made like him? 

Christ is single in his focus and desire to honor his Father. His vision of the Father is so clear and so perfect, He is in constant rapture with the beauty of the Father. This resulted in a corresponding love for Him that is so great it ²moved Christ to love us in the same way he loves His Father by stepping out of the bliss of his face-to-face beatific view of the ³Father, ⁴into our broken world, with all its pain and suffering and taking on human form. He did this so we too might be together with him and His Father to behold and partake (share) of the infinite love of the Father along with Him. 

As a result, we too will one day have as perfect and pure a focus on and longing for Him in the same way He does for Himself i.e. between the Father and Son. There will no longer be distractions or obstructions. There will be a singleness of focus resulting in singleness of action i.e. we will behold the fullness of his glory and be so enthralled and enlivened by his beauty, wonder, majesty, and greatness we will desire, without distraction or interruption, to extol Him and conduct ourselves in such a way that brings the greatest honor to Him simply because it will be clearly apparent -- infinitely more than now -- that He is worthy of all honor. The greatness of his glory -- his great worth/value to us  -- will be seen and experienced so perfectly and fully, that we will see, experience, and realize He is the fulfillment of all our desires. It is God that has been missing, and we have longed for all our lives, even if we didn't fully realize it. We will experience, for the first time, that he is all we've ever truly desired, longed for, and sought after throughout our lives and He will be right in front of us and perfectly ours and we will be His, with no obstruction, interruption, or distraction. Think in terms of presently being separated from the love of your earthly life for an extended period and eagerly anticipating being reunited and never apart again. 

How does hoping for this cause us to want to be pure? ...everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 

The more we come to love and trust him now, the greater our capacity to behold Him as He truly is in eternity. 

Everything we go through now, good, bad, or ugly is designed to help us see him more clearly and fully now but especially in eternity. The more clearly we see him now the more we will enjoy him in eternity. He is the reward in eternity for of our faithfulness in this life.

Knowing (hoping for) this moves us to draw nearer to him in greater devotion now, in this life. Learning to depend on and draw ⁵strength from God today increases our capacity to appreciate and experience him "tomorrow" in eternity. This is our reward, God himself. HE is the reward of our faithfulness. This hope moves us to even greater faithfulness.

For a further discussion on glory, I offer the following:

Created for glory II

Crowned with glory and honor

Giving and receiving glory

Why God calls us to glorify him

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¹Image experiencing some devastating loss so great you almost die. As a result, you've completely lost all your strength, and all your senses... hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling, were significantly impaired. Someone from a distant country, with the expertise and unlimited resources to restore you, heard of your plight and began to send you costly and rare treatment at no cost to you. This allowed you to keep going and get well enough to eventually come to the clinic where you are promised you'll be completely restored and made even better than before your loss. As you stabilize and begin to recover, your hope grows and you increasingly look forward to your trip to meet this person who has been treating you from afar at his own cost. 

You eventually arrive, meet, and spend one-on-one time with this provider and healer. Though you have corresponded and spoken to him many times and you feel you knew him pretty well, you now finally see him and discover he is even kinder and more caring than you could ever imagine. As a result, you are completely restored and the best you have ever been and more.

²This love from His Father overflows and moves Christ to love us.

³The Father also gave up something of this in sending Christ to us. 

⁴Imagine someone stepping out of a pristine environment into a toxic one to rescue those dying from toxicity. 

⁵the essence of this strength we receive is a sense and awareness of how much God values us. 

Is God self centered or humble?

God appears to be self-centered and in one sense ¹he is. However, due to the nature of his being three persons while also only one God, there is an "otherness" within the very being of God; he is outward and other focused and oriented - i.e. he is not inward focused or selfish.

And his other orientation is rooted in that other person being perfect, ²exactly as he is perfect. For God to be infinitely attracted to another, that "other" person must be ⁵like him...infinitely and equally perfect and beautiful. 

God is the ³greatest, most perfect, infinitely beautiful, and attractive being of all. To behold Him as He is, is to be filled with wonder and awe. 

God can not admire something infinitely that is not of infinite beauty, value, and worthy of infinite admiration. He alone is most worthy of infinite and eternal admiration. For Him to admire another equally, that other person must be equally beautiful and glorious as Himself. 

With Christ, he is the co-eternal, exact, and perfect representation (image -"other") of the Father. 

And what makes God so ³attractive, admirable, beautiful, and glorious? Certainly, the common things we recognize, such as love, wisdom, power, majesty, creativity but also His humility, an often overlooked but central part of his very being.

The greatest being in the universe is also the most humble and experienced the greatest ⁴humility of any other being. Not only did Christ go to the lowest of any being, but he also came from the greatest heights to do so. You could say the distance Christ traveled - from the "penthouse to the outhouse" of his existence - was infinitely greater than anyone had or will ever travel by virtue of His greatness and the height he came from to go to the depth he went to. No one is higher than the eternal Son of God and no one has ever gone lower or "traveled" farther - or ever will. Part of what makes Christ so great is that he went so low and He did so for others i.e. for both His Father and for us. As a result, he will be exalted above all others for all eternity. To Him be the glory, honor, and praise! AMEN!

Humility is and will always be a central quality he possesses that will evoke our adoration for him throughout eternity. His is not a humbling he experienced and took part in for its own sake but the sake of others, i.e. for His Father first (to honor and draw attention to Him) but also for you and I. 

In and through Christ, God not only knows humility, but is humble. Christ is not only the lion; but also the lamb of God. It is hard to grasp how the greatest being in the universe (the Creator and ongoing Sustainer of everything that exists) experienced the greatest humility of all and is, in fact, the most humble of all beings. 

For this and other reasons, God loves it when he sees humility in us. It is when we are most like His Son.

For a further discussion of the humility of Christ click here. 

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¹God is the cause of all things, through which everything issues forth, on which everything depends, and by which all things continue. He is, therefore, the greatest and most valuable being i.e. the beginning, middle, and end of all things. To say it another way, he is the center of attention because he is the highest being of all; not just for all things He created but for himself as well. And because he is, he is complete within himself. He needs no one and nothing but himself; everything and everyone else needs him. 

However, being the center — the Creator and Sustainer — of all things, and keeping that to oneself - i.e. being "self-centered" (selfish) - are not the same thing but two different things. God desires to overflow His love to others. He is the opposite of selfish. This was demonstrated by the Father - out of love for us - sending His Son and the Son emptying himself of His "Godness" for us. 

²It is interesting and worth noting that we are called to be perfect as God is perfect; not in the fullest sense of God's incommunicable attributes such as being all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present but regarding His communicable ones i.e. things that are a part of God's character that can also be a part of ours, such as love and humility. 

This adds new meaning to the truth that a great leader (King) will never ask you to do what they aren't willing to or have not done themselves. They lead by example. (A true king earns the right to be king. To have it simply bestowed on them is not being a true king. Christ was not only born the King of kings and Lord of lords but he earned the right to be fully recognized as such by his example of humility).

If we resist humility, submission, and suffering it is good and helpful to remember he did not, and that for our sake. 

Hebrews 12:2  looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

³A great part of what makes the Son so great, glorious, beautiful, etc - and the Father via the Son - is humility. We are all attracted to someone humble? Why? In part, because they aren't about themselves, but about others. When we meet someone truly humble, we aren't impressed with their humility but their interest in us (and others). It is far more enjoyable talking to someone who wants to get to know us or share things that might help us, rather than someone who talks about themselves, is it not? 

⁴Rooted in the essence of God's nature is the quality that enabled Christ to humble himself. However, this was not a character quality acted out and experienced to the fullest extent of its potential. We are told Christ learned obedience (humble submission and reverential trust) through the things he suffered. Christ entered into and experienced humility in a way he had not before the incarnation. 

How is it possible for the all-knowing God to learn? This is a mystery and likely had something to do with Christ's humanity. John Piper offers the following... His learning obedience was not Christ going from disobedience to obedience but from untested to tested obedience. The inclination to submit and obey the Father was inherent in the nature of Christ (God), otherwise, he would have never submitted when He was put to the test. Christ's trust in and love for the Father as a man was genuinely put to task, for the first time in a new and unique way. And in facing the most daunting suffering imaginable, he held fast and came out the other side victorious as the Lord of Lords and rightful King over all things. He is the Alpha (the Creator) and the Omega. He was raised from death to life!! This was not a hypothetical theory but as real as it gets. 

⁵The more that other person is like him the more attracted he is. Christ is the exact representation of the Father. The perfect image of God. Therefore he is most attracted to Christ. 

However, we are also in God's image, and therefore, he is also attracted to us. We are as close to being like God-Christ as possible without being Him. 

what moves us to faithfulness?

Psa 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

At least two things are involved in *experiencing God's working in our lives -- having his caring attention/eye on us, thereby moving/motivating us to faithfulness i.e. to obedience. 

fear of the Lord AND hope in his steadfast love                                                             

      

Fear- The utmost regard for God's absolute rule (sovereignty), majesty, power, and holiness. Recognizing these things about God is the beginning of wisdom i.e. where wise living starts.                                                              
Hope- The anticipation of being in God's presence and experiencing the fullness of who he is in all his infinite love **according to or in proportion to our faithfulness to him in this life.

"... who hope in his steadfast love..." Why do we hope in God's steadfast love? Don't we have and experience his love now? We do but only by faith, from afar if you will, not yet fully seeing Him as He is i.e. not through direct first-hand experience but "through a glass darkly..." 

Though God's disposition is one of perfect love towards us now and can not be added to or taken away from -- it's based on the perfect work of Christ, not our imperfect feeble attempts at perfect faithfulness -- we will not experience the fullness of his love until we see him face to face in eternity. 

It is this hope, the hope of complete transformation and glorification, and the promise of the fullest ***experience of his love -- which will increase throughout eternity -- this hope moves us to diligently pursue to him.

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." I John 3:2-3

"For the one who ****sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Gal 6:8-9. Give up what? Hope of eternal bliss/life. 

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*We must distinguish between having God's love and participating/experiencing it. Having it is based on Christ's efforts alone, not ours. We can never do enough to secure God's love for us. Experiencing and more fully participating in his love, however, is contingent on faithful obedience i.e.  "the just shall live by faith..."  For a further discussion on this click here. 

** "according to..." also carries with it a respect/fear for God i.e. God does things a certain way (according to design) and if we do not live accordingly we experience the repercussions of living contrary to that design.

***The essence of our reward is greater union with God and therefore greater participation and firsthand experience of his perfect love in proportion to our faithfulness i.e. faithful obedience. 

By "in proportion..." we mean our experience and participation in God and His love throughout eternity are in proportion to our trust/faithful obedience to him now, in this life. Our faithfulness doesn't save us but it does increase our capacity to enjoy God. God is the reward of that faithfulness. Participation in God's love throughout eternity is the reward for our faithfulness now, in this life.

****Sewing and reaping is evidence of design and a Designer.