Hope: As It Is in Heaven, So Be It on EarthSample

Welcome to day 3 of this week’s devotionals in our series about Hope. Today, we will talk about Romans 8:23-25:

“and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Vision isn’t daydreaming or wishful thinking. It is a future somebody already sees in his or her mind. As Stephen Covey famously said: “Begin with the end in mind. Everything is created twice. There is a mental (first) creation and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint.”

One of the fundamental things this week’s passage invites us to consider is sharing in the vision of the renewal of the whole creation. Even our bodies will be made new, Paul writes. And living with this vision will bring hope.

Paul writes we were saved by this hope. Hope usually refers to our human capacity to believe that the future is going to be better. Hope can become a vision when we already see what this future can be and we live with this end in mind. But Paul is talking about much more than mere human hope and vision.

Paul is saying that the Spirit of God is living and working in us. He often uses images to help us understand the Spirit’s work in us. One image is that of a deposit. A deposit is a sum of money that is put down that guarantees the full payment to come. Another image is an engagement ring. Engagement rings, like deposits, are given to guarantee a particular future. The Spirit working in us is like that: A guarantee in the present that we will reach God’s promised future of new creation.

But the image Paul uses in today’s verses actually flips things around. The concept of the first fruit of the Spirit, or the Spirit as the first fruit, is a harvesting image. The harvest is the end the farmer has in mind. But the first fruits are part of the crop that has already ripened. It’s a sign in the present of what is to come. Interestingly, Pentecost was the festival during which Jews offered the first fruits of their harvest to God. With this image, Paul is saying that the future renewal of all creation that God promised is already present and working in us through the Holy Spirit. The future comes to inspire us in the present to live in the light and by the power of the New Creation.

This is much more than mere humans envisioning a better future. This is the One who created everything, Who fills our capacities for hope and vision with His Spirit. By the Spirit, we see the future of everything: New Creation, when behold King Jesus. And by the same Spirit, that new creation is already at work in us.

In a world full of quick fixes where things that cannot be quickly fixed are usually replaced, we are empowered to live with a different end in mind. God doesn’t replace what is broken; He renews. His Spirit empowers us not to give up when things and people are still broken. With patience, endurance, and resilience, we keep working with the Spirit to create signs of new creation in the present, thereby anticipating the final renewal of everything. This is how we bring hope to homes, workplaces, and communities.

And so, we pray: Thank you, Father, for saving us into this glorious hope. Thank You for Your Spirit as the first fruit, guaranteeing the future You promised and working in us and through us to create signs of that future. We praise You, in Jesus' name. Amen.