A few weeks ago, the idea to listen to this song came to mind. I don't know why, but vivid images of a future time popped in my mind -- dreams of the New Earth, and how much I wanted my family to be there.
Lately, I have been reading the book, "Heaven", by Randy Alcorn. It's a wonderful treat to read, and extremely encouraging for believers; the hope of Heaven, of new heavens, a new Earth, with resurrected bodies, people, nations, friendships, loves, families, and everything wonderful about the current Earth retained and magnified to glorious perfection and shining majesty, with absolutely none of the evil we currently see. After reading it along with Scripture, meditating on its words, and imagining it, I can boldly and confidently state that the more one thinks correctly of Heaven, the more they fall in love with God Almighty, and the more of an earthly good they become. And, the more they pray for the lost, for those who have not yet surrendered lordship of their life to Jesus Christ.
Which brings me to my most pressing, and most heartfelt concern -- my beloved wife, who does not yet know the LORD. When I listen to this seemingly secular song, I think of her. I imagine myself standing on the magnificent shores of the New Earth, my eyes witnessing for the final time the fate of the damned, of those who did not put their trust in Jesus Christ. I imagine myself standing as I watch them being swallowed by the burning blackness of a swirling hole; their screams of torment loudly wailing as it devours them whole in its gaping mouth. I imagine my beloved wife among them, reaching her hand out to me as she looks on me a final time, crying for me to save her. I reach out as well, wishing I could do something, wishing she were here.. wishing she were here standing with me, ready to run with abandon to explore the glorious new world.
But, I have no power to save. Mankind has no power to redeem himself or others of his kind. Only the LORD, only Jesus Christ, and only Christ's shed blood on Calvary has the power to cleanse sin, to make one righteous before a Holy God. I imagine a tear trickling down my face as my beloved is swallowed up, having lost everything -- possessions, name, soul, and even humanity. Each of us had to make our own choice before God because each of us is responsible for our own relationship with God.
By all that is holy, THIS is not what I want for her! This awful fate is not what I desire for my beloved wife. I will never give her to the enemy, or any other! If there is anyone who I would give her away to, it would only be the LORD. It is my strong desire to have my wife walk together, run together, play together, learn, love, and grow together on a New Earth, in resurrected bodies, with a perfected, resurrected relationship! How I long it to be so. How I long to tell her, to point to her other family members on the New Earth and tell her that we will all be together now; that there is nobody to stand in our way any more of loving relationships. Not sin, not death, not disease, not time, not devil, and not Curse. How I long to have her and her family, and my own family with me on the New Earth where nothing selfish will ever get in the way again, where we will have time, ad infinitum, to live, love, and learn! How my heart burns to have her beside me, and say that we will never lack for anything, nor will we ever hurt or die ever again! And not only for her, but the members of our family.
I pray for her each and every day. I pray that the LORD will work a miracle in her heart. I pray that the LORD will do whatever it takes to save her; and not just her, but my mother and father-in-laws, my parents, my grandpa, her sisters, my sister, and everyone else in the family so we can all be together again in truth, love, and glory. If you're reading this, please pray for her and our loved ones as well. I don't want to be there without her. I don't want to be singing this song on the shores of the New Earth. I don't want to "wish she were here", I want her to be already there with me! Earth has no hurt that Heaven cannot cure. The Bible tells us that Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes. I pray that the tears I shed are not those of my wife not being with me...
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wishing You Were Here ...
Friday, November 16, 2007
What is really ours?
It's been some time since my last post. Well, my last long post -- where I actually took the time to carefully think of what I ought to write about. There have been many topics which crossed my mind that I wished to put to the pen. But my job of being a father comes first, and so I opt out of writing down my ramblings in favor of playing with my children.
Well, I thought I ought to create a poll here and conduct a question & answer session regarding a variety of interesting topics. But I don't have the time right now. I'll be heading for bed soon that I may be able to wake up to make the long trek to work early tomorrow morning. Instead, perhaps I ought to just ramble on and talk about various nonsensical things going through my brain right now as it is shutting down for sleepy-bye. But that would be a waste of time and effort, a poor stewardship of things.
Ah, stewardship. Now, there's a word almost never thrown out around nowadays outside the Christian circles. It carries the sense of being responsible for another's property while it is under one's management. We like to say that we own things, hence we render -- my time, my things, my money, my body, etc. Our time? C'mon now, we neither created it, nor can we horde or save it, and neither can we command it. We can only live in it, learn to manage and spend it wisely. Our things? We may have earned them (hopefully through lawful means), but we by no means can keep them forever. The late billionaire John D. Rockefeller lies in his grave without a single thin dime in his hand. Money talks, but it only says goodbye.
Our bodies? Well, we may live in them as we live in time. But we had not the power to choose our parents, or our genes. We do not have the power within ourselves to heal our bodies of crippling diseases or deformities. We can exercise to develop muscle mass, but we cannot make ourselves a single inch taller than what is programmed in our DNA. Most of all, we cannot determine our length of days. Heck, we cannot even make one hair of our head white or black, blonde or red. Eventually, we all die -- the final testament to the very fact that we are not in control, and we certainly do not own anything. Naked we came into this world, and we are very certain that we cannot carry anything out.
What will it profit a man if he should gain the entire world, and yet lose his own soul? Or what will a man give to ransom his soul? Consider those passengers who were on-board the ill-fated ship Titanic. Think about the very rich who, with all their material wealth could not buy one more second of life, one more precious breath of air as they drowned in the cold, watery depths.
But I will tell you Who is in control. He is the same Person who happens to truly owns everything. He created it, He can sustain it, and He can certainly keep it forever. That Person is none other than God Almighty. He created all, He owns it all, and He most certainly rules it all. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. But in light of this fact, the question is begged -- can we or do we ever truly own anything?
Yes, there is something we own right now -- our sin! It is ours only. Sin is born in the mind of man, committed by the actions of man, and man will carry sin into the next life where God will judge him/her for it. The sin is ours and ours alone. God certainly does not own our sin. Sin separates us from Holy God. Sin is what will keep the gates of Heaven closed to us. Knowing this, many often say within themselves, Let us eat and drink, feast and lust, for tommorow we shall die!
But it need not be this way. First, acknowledge your sin -- it is yours alone. You have sinned against the LORD. Next, give your sin to Jesus. You see, Jesus is God Almighty. In His mercy and grace, and His all-consuming desire not to see any of His precious humans die the second death (in Hell), He came down to Earth and was born of a virgin. Then, Jesus lived a perfect life, and allowed wicked men to murder Him by death on a cross. Three days later He rose from the dead. Jesus allowed Himself to be murdered so that He could take our sin into His own body as He hung on that cross. God says that the wages of sin is death, and the soul that sins it shall die!
All that is needed to be done by us humans is to come to Him in humility, repent and ask Him to forgive us our sins. All that is needed is to put our trust in Christ for our salvation -- Christ alone, and nothing else. Give your sin to Jesus, and in exchange He will give you eternal life in Heaven. If not, and you choose to keep owning it, pretty soon it will own you!
Remember the lesson of Cain and Abel. God said to Cain, "Sin is crouching at your door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it!
Well, I thought I ought to create a poll here and conduct a question & answer session regarding a variety of interesting topics. But I don't have the time right now. I'll be heading for bed soon that I may be able to wake up to make the long trek to work early tomorrow morning. Instead, perhaps I ought to just ramble on and talk about various nonsensical things going through my brain right now as it is shutting down for sleepy-bye. But that would be a waste of time and effort, a poor stewardship of things.
Ah, stewardship. Now, there's a word almost never thrown out around nowadays outside the Christian circles. It carries the sense of being responsible for another's property while it is under one's management. We like to say that we own things, hence we render -- my time, my things, my money, my body, etc. Our time? C'mon now, we neither created it, nor can we horde or save it, and neither can we command it. We can only live in it, learn to manage and spend it wisely. Our things? We may have earned them (hopefully through lawful means), but we by no means can keep them forever. The late billionaire John D. Rockefeller lies in his grave without a single thin dime in his hand. Money talks, but it only says goodbye.
Our bodies? Well, we may live in them as we live in time. But we had not the power to choose our parents, or our genes. We do not have the power within ourselves to heal our bodies of crippling diseases or deformities. We can exercise to develop muscle mass, but we cannot make ourselves a single inch taller than what is programmed in our DNA. Most of all, we cannot determine our length of days. Heck, we cannot even make one hair of our head white or black, blonde or red. Eventually, we all die -- the final testament to the very fact that we are not in control, and we certainly do not own anything. Naked we came into this world, and we are very certain that we cannot carry anything out.
What will it profit a man if he should gain the entire world, and yet lose his own soul? Or what will a man give to ransom his soul? Consider those passengers who were on-board the ill-fated ship Titanic. Think about the very rich who, with all their material wealth could not buy one more second of life, one more precious breath of air as they drowned in the cold, watery depths.
But I will tell you Who is in control. He is the same Person who happens to truly owns everything. He created it, He can sustain it, and He can certainly keep it forever. That Person is none other than God Almighty. He created all, He owns it all, and He most certainly rules it all. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. But in light of this fact, the question is begged -- can we or do we ever truly own anything?
Yes, there is something we own right now -- our sin! It is ours only. Sin is born in the mind of man, committed by the actions of man, and man will carry sin into the next life where God will judge him/her for it. The sin is ours and ours alone. God certainly does not own our sin. Sin separates us from Holy God. Sin is what will keep the gates of Heaven closed to us. Knowing this, many often say within themselves, Let us eat and drink, feast and lust, for tommorow we shall die!
But it need not be this way. First, acknowledge your sin -- it is yours alone. You have sinned against the LORD. Next, give your sin to Jesus. You see, Jesus is God Almighty. In His mercy and grace, and His all-consuming desire not to see any of His precious humans die the second death (in Hell), He came down to Earth and was born of a virgin. Then, Jesus lived a perfect life, and allowed wicked men to murder Him by death on a cross. Three days later He rose from the dead. Jesus allowed Himself to be murdered so that He could take our sin into His own body as He hung on that cross. God says that the wages of sin is death, and the soul that sins it shall die!
All that is needed to be done by us humans is to come to Him in humility, repent and ask Him to forgive us our sins. All that is needed is to put our trust in Christ for our salvation -- Christ alone, and nothing else. Give your sin to Jesus, and in exchange He will give you eternal life in Heaven. If not, and you choose to keep owning it, pretty soon it will own you!
Remember the lesson of Cain and Abel. God said to Cain, "Sin is crouching at your door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
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