Belief in resurrection is not the same as the conviction of the immortality of the soul. The latter is based on the makeup of the human person; the former rests on the fidelity of God. The doctrine of resurrection is grounded in the concept of covenant, which claims that God has established a relationship with human beings. Jesus assures us that death is not powerful enough to break the ties that bind us in covenant with God. This is the hope in which we live by the grace given us from God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our future is already present and, therefore, we are called to live lives that have been radically transformed. However, the future has not yet completely dawned, and so we find ourselves living both in this age and in the age to come. Thus we live future lives, but we live them in the present. As difficult as this may be, we have the promise that the Lord will strengthen us and guard us. We have the instruction of our religious tradition that directs our minds and hearts. When we live lives of the future, we truly enable that future to dawn in the present.