There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:18 (NIV)
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20 (NIV)
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Have you ever sat around and thought about what the future holds for you? Is your future hope a new home? If you are hoping for a new home with a white picket fence, that is not at all what this devotional is about. This is not about a future earthly home, but a heavenly home.
We need to understand how God calls us to live on Earth as we look forward to our future in Heaven. Salvation is God’s gift of grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance and confessing Jesus as Lord are responses of that faith, and living a life that pleases God is the fruit of a life that has been changed by Him.
Jesus said we should store up treasures in Heaven. As we prepare for this Heavenly home we need to deposit funds in a spiritual account. This obviously doesn't mean you can go to the bank and deposit funds in an account to use in Heaven. 1 Timothy 6:18-19 gives us an explanation for how to store up treasures in Heaven, "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."
A future hope of the coming age is great, but I also want to give you a word for the current age. We get this word from Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This one of my wife’s favorite verses. In its original setting, the promise was spoken to Jewish exiles in Babylon as part of God’s assurance that He had not abandoned them and would bring them home after a long season of exile. I still find hope in that passage because it shows the faithfulness of God. God knows the plans for our lives, so our present and future hope is certain when we put our hope in God.