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New Testament Reading - Creation groans with longing

¹⁹ For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children.^{a 20-21}For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay - the things that overcome the world against its will at God's command - will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God's children enjoy.

²²For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.^b

²³ And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us - bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.

²⁴ We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have - for a man who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it. ²⁵ But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn't happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.

1. Literally, "waiting for the revelation of the sons of God."
2. Literally, "The whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now."