Happily Ever After

Recently, while watching Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet, I found myself anxiously wanting for there to be a way for the two young lovers to escape their ill-fated ending.  When it concluded in the usual way, with their tragic deaths, I started to question my response.  I have read and seen this story countless times.  I know the ending won’t change.  So why do I always long for the happy ending?  I think it is because we were made for happily ever after!

When God created man and woman, He placed them in the Garden of Eden, a paradise.  His intention was to spend eternity with them, carrying out a perfect relationship based on respect and obedience.  However, Adam and Eve’s disobedience changed all of that.  Sin entered into the world, and God sent them away in exile.  But, this is not the end of man’s story.  

Intent on fulfilling His plan, God created a way to redeem His creation through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus.   Through the shedding of Christ’s blood, man was restored.  Furthermore, God promises that Jesus will one day return and a new kingdom, a new paradise, will be created.

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.” (Isaiah 65: 17-18)

You see, as believer’s in Christ, we know that something better is coming. No matter what our current situation holds, we don’t have to despair. This knowledge gives us what Romeo and Juliet didn’t have: HOPE.

Today, let’s share that hope with a despairing world.  Through our actions and attitudes, we can show others that happily ever after isn’t just a fairy tale, but a reality.