“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”Romans 8:11 (NLT)
As believers, we have hope because we’re going to live forever in heaven with God. Death is not the end. There is more to the story!
One day your heart will stop beating, and that will be the end of your body. But it’s not going to be the end of you. You were made in God’s image. You were made to last forever. This life is not all there is.
That’s a reason to have hope! Because no matter how bad it seems on earth, it’s just for a while. When you have faith in Jesus, you know you’re going to spend trillions of years on the other side of eternity with no more sorrow, no more sadness, no more sickness, and no more suffering.
The Bible says in Romans 8:11, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (NLT).
As a pastor, I’ve stood at the graveside with hundreds of families, and I know the difference between people with hope and those without. You can see it in their eyes. I’ve seen the terror in the eyes of people without hope. They’re thinking, “This is all I have. It’s over. I will never see this person again. It’s done. That’s all there is to life.”
I compare that to the thousands of people I’ve seen at the funerals of believers. They know this is just a transition step. Their loved one is entering real life! They’re going to be with God for eternity. There is grief, of course, but also hope, because they know they will be reunited one day with their loved one who followed Jesus. For a believer, death is not leaving home—it’s going home.
Do you have that hope, knowing you’ll spend eternity with Jesus Christ? If not, don’t delay. Make this important decision today. I tell you how to do that at the end of this devotional.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
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