Romans 12:12a

rejoicing in hope;

Christians are told that they should rejoice but sometimes the things that happen around us are very troubling. So many Christians right now are going though severe persecution. Many are going through troubles because of the sins of others. Others are having trouble with health or finances or relationships. This world is a very dark place and there isn’t much here to rejoice about sometimes.

As Christians, we know that conditions on earth don’t necessarily improve just because we decided to obey God. It may seem like others who don’t believe at all are having all the fun. That may be true now, but what about later?

“Hope” is a future word. We don’t hope for things that already are, we hope for things in the future. This verse tells us that we should be rejoicing in hope; that means the we should be glad about our future. We should be constantly thinking about what lies ahead for us. It’s hard to believe considering our circumstances here on earth that someday we will actually be government officials. The government that we will be a part of won’t be anything like the ones we see around us now. We are the children of God and He is the King and someday His kingdom will be known to everyone on earth. We don’t fully know what we will be, but we know from God’s word that we will rule with Him. We know that we have Jesus’ inheritance to share in when the time comes as well and I can’t even imagine how wealthy that makes us.

Someday we will know God better and that alone will make us happy because He really loves us. He loves us more that we can imagine. Someday we won’t need to imagine as much but for now we should keep believing and rejoicing.