(I reached back in the archives for this one. I hope that it will bless and encourage you.)
“Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and love which you have for all the saints, 5. for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel…” The idea for this post came up when I heard a gospel song by the same title. It is true that “everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” If we really believe that there is “hope laid up for us in heaven,” why would we not want to die to get there? After all, Jesus said of heaven, “That where I am there you may be also.” It is in heaven that we will spend eternity with Jesus. Paul wrote: “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Why wouldn’t we want to be absent from the body? I think that I can explain the reasoning behind this dilemma – if that’s what it is. In the first place, life on earth is a gift from God. When God created Adam and Eve, “He breathed the breath of life into (their) nostrils.” In other words, this life that we have here and now was given to us by the breath of God Himself. This is why we reverence life. I think that the people who enjoy this life more than anyone else are those of us who recognize that we have life in the first place because of the will of God. Every breath that we take is a gift from God. All of the great Old and New Testament saints had a reverence for life on this earth and they lived life to the fullest. It is my opinion that I enjoy life because I know that it is God’s gift to me. In the second place, we are not given life on earth just to take up space. We are born into this life for a purpose, or for the purposes of God. At this point you might be thinking: “But not everybody realizes or cares about God’s purpose for their lives.” That’s not God’s problem. Not every person in the Bible lived for God’s purpose, but that doesn’t mean that God didn’t have a purpose for their lives. Jeremiah had a unique testimony about God’s purpose for his life: “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: "Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations.” Another example of this would be the Apostle Paul. With all that he did before becoming a Christian, do you think that God did not have an ultimate plan for Paul's life? Even while he was persecuting Christ’s people, the call of God was upon his life and it came to fruition on the Damascus Road. Could Paul have gone his own way? I’m sure that he could have, but he didn’t – thank God. Moses was eighty years old before he realized God’s purpose for his life. Seeing what his ultimate purpose was –to lead the Israelites out of Egypt – it probably took God eighty years to prepare him for that task. Moses didn’t just take up space on earth to tend his father in law’s sheep. There was a purpose for him in the heart of God. That leads me to challenge you to consider what God’s great purpose for your life might be. It could be that He wants you to be the best doctor, insurance agent, lawyer, factory worker, farmer, or the best husband, wife, father, mother, etc. that you can be and lead people to the Lord. Life will have more meaning when you know that you are realizing God’s purpose(s) for your life. In the third place, life here is but a prelude to what we have in store for us in heaven. That is for those who have put their faith in Jesus. There is another eternity to deal with, but our purpose is to deal with what God has in store for believers. The Bible promises life after this life, but it does little to describe it for us. We couldn’t understand it if the Bible did try to fully describe it for us. It is enough for me that Jesus has prepared a place for each of us and that He will be there. The fact is that we have to have life here and now to have life by and by. That’s why I say that this is a prelude. It is my prayer that you have given your present life to Jesus in order to have the eternity with Him that only He can give, and that you are realizing God's purpose(s) for your life here and now. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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