Our Hope of Glory

"Righteous Father, though the world does not know You,

I know You, and they know that You have sent me.

I have made You known to them, and

will continue to make You known in order

that the love You have for me may be in them

and that I myself may be in them."

John 17:25-26

This passage has gotten under my skin. When I ran across it again a few days ago it made me cry. This prayer for all the believers comes just before Jesus was arrested. To think that Jesus prayed for ME right before He was arrested; Right before He would die a most horrific death for such a horrific sinner like me. It makes me speechless. I am not worthy of being prayed for by the Holy of Holies; not worthy of being forgiven of my crimes, yet God thinks I am. And no matter what I've done or where I've been, He's provided a way so that I can be forgiven and so that I can spend eternity in heaven with Him. Wow! That thought alone makes me smile!

Read it very carefully, let the words seep into your soul. Jesus came and died so that God's love could live within us and so that we will never be separated. Our pastor always says, you don't have to go to church to find God, Christ lives on the inside of you! If you are a child of God, YOU are His temple! Think of how differently we'd live our lives if we were always conscious of that simple, yet profound fact.

"the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,

but is now disclosed to the saints.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles

the glorious riches of this mystery,

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Colossians 1:26-27