A friend who is not yet a Christian but who is joyfully seeking after God tells me of budding faith and of happy anticipation in the spiritual journey. Can I say anything to encourage?”
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Jesus came to reconcile “all things” to God and to each other (Colossians 1:19-20). Part of the result of his atonement is the reuniting, reconciling, healing of the human creature as an individual — first with the Creator through Jesus Christ, but also with other people, within himself or herself, and with the cosmos, the rest of God’s created order. The Bible tells us that when Jesus returns, God will bring all this to complete fulfillment in what Scripture calls “new heavens and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17; Rom. 8:20-22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-22:5). That is pictured as a time when the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the curse is removed from all that God has made, and Paradise is restored with the Tree of Life (Isa. 11:6-9; Rev. 21:1-22:5). Revelation chapter 21 portrays a universal society which lives together in peace, harmony and justice forever with God himself visibly in its midst.
All the best hopes and aspirations of humankind are fulfilled in Jesus Christ — the One for whom every sensitive heart longs even when it does not know the object of its longing. This is what biblical Christianity is all about, not merely church, or good works, or devotional life or rules of living. All those are intended for our good, to encourage and facilitate the relationship with God which always brings blessing. Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). As King David of old wrote concerning God: “In Thy presence there is fullness of joy; in Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Press on with hope and joy, my friend — you are on the path to life abundant, now and forever!