I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in
eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was
subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who
subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its
bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the
pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we
ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that
is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope
for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do
not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
through wordless groans. And he who
searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes
for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to
be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters. And those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he
justified, he also glorified. Romans 8:18-30
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