How can hope for the future help me live today?

Matthew 19:29“Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.”

Romans 8:18, 21, 23-25What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. . . . the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. . . . And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved.

Romans 8:28We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

2 Corinthians 4:17Our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

Philippians 3:13No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.

1 Peter 1:7These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Peter 4:13Be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

1 Peter 5:4, 10When the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor. . . . In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

As heaven-bound followers of Jesus, we should strive to keep heaven and earth in perspective. Here, we generally live for a hundred years or less. There, 100 million years is just the beginning. Because we will spend most of our time in heaven, we need to spend time here preparing ourselves to live there. This eternal perspective helps us live here on earth with the right priorities, for this life is really our preparation for life in heaven. We can gain courage to face the trials and suffering of this life by looking beyond them to the glory God has in store for us.

Matthew 19:29“Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.”

We know that God will reward any sacrifices in heaven that we make now in this life.