The old order of things has passed away.
—Revelation 21:4
J.R.R. Tolkien, in his essay On Fairy Stories, explained why people are drawn to fairy tales. Such stories, he said, are usually the opposite of the emotional torture of daily news. Instead of war, crime, and despair, fairy tales offer happy endings.
Paul never downplayed the hardships first-century Christians faced. But he reminded them that there would come a day “when sufferings cease and sorrows die” (Stuart Townsend). He encouraged them to deal with the immediate by keeping their eyes on the ultimate.
We live in a fallen world, bruised by suffering, distress, and frustration.
But that isn’t the end of the story. There will be a happy ending, when “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things [will have] passed away (Rv 21:4).
Don’t become so absorbed in time
that you lose sight of eternity.