A Living Hope

This is one of my favorite passages and it came up in the first lesson in our study of joy. I've read this twice at funerals. That doesn't seem very joyous, right? But there is definitely joy in the idea that these trials lead to lasting reward. And that at both of those funerals, I knew that someone I loved had already had that "new birth into a living hope" and now their trials were over. Time for the inheritance! Where does joy come from? A new birth into a living hope.

1 Peter (New International Version)
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.