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b'I read an interesting Bible verse the other day: \\u201cThe end of a matter is\\nbetter than its beginning\\u201d (Ecclesiastes 7:8, NIV). Another Bible\\ntranslation phrases it this way: \\u201cFinishing is better than starting\\u201d (NLT).\\nI\\u2019m no ancient-language scholar, so I can\\u2019t go into the meaning of the\\noriginal words and sentence structures, but this phrase captured my\\nimagination\\u2026\\n.\\nAs I was sitting eating a snack and thinking about this Bible verse, I\\nwondered, \\u201cWhy is the end better than the beginning? Or, why is finishing\\nbetter than starting?\\u201d\\n.\\nWhen I\\u2019m working on a task, usually the goal is to complete it. The\\nexamples that came to my mind were a school assignment or a woodworking\\nproject. It makes sense that finishing these tasks would be better, and\\nmore satisfying, than starting them.\\n.\\nBut something else with both an ending and a beginning could be a journey,\\neven a hike. The end is better, not just because you\\u2019ve arrived at your\\ndestination, but also because of all the experiences you\\u2019ve had along the\\nway. Similarly, the end of a good book is better than the beginning,\\nbecause the story is now more dear to you, the reader, than it was on the\\nfirst page when all the characters were still just strangers who were\\nstarting to introduce themselves.\\n.\\nAs I mused about all these endings and beginnings, I started thinking about\\nthe Bible in this way. And I found it so hopeful, because if the end is\\nbetter than the beginning, then the new heavens and the new earth described\\nin Revelation will be even better than the Garden of Eden described in\\nGenesis!\\n.\\nWhen Jesus returns bodily to earth and restores His creation, everything\\nwill be better than it ever was before, because God is bringing His plan of\\nredemption to completion. Even though we were once far away from God,\\nstrangers because of our sin, He brought us near through the blood of Jesus\\n(Ephesians 2:13, 19). God has been glorified through the death and\\nresurrection of Jesus, and since we belong to Jesus, God is also glorified\\nthrough all of us! What a mystery and honor\\u2014to have the privilege of\\nglorifying God with the rest of His creation, with the mountains and\\nthe animals and the stars! In the end, together we will cry, \\u201c \\u2018Holy, holy,\\nholy is the Lord God Almighty,\\u2019 who was, and is, and is to come\\u201d\\n(Revelation 4:8, NIV). \\u2022 Hannah Howe\\n.\\n\\u2022 As Christians, we get to look forward to the \\u201cend\\u201d of the world, at least\\nas we know it. What do you imagine living forever with Jesus in restored\\ncreation will be like?\\n.\\nThe end of a matter is better than its beginning. Ecclesiastes 7:8a (NIV)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nRev.21.1-Rev.21.5|Gen.1|Gen.2.4-Gen.2.17|Eccl.7.8-Eccl.7.14'