Like everyone else I need encouragement, as well as affirmation, for my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. So I am not writing as some insensitive clod to the spiritual struggles and choices each of us face regarding our faith. There is no doubt “the wrong seems oft so strong.” The question is where do we go to find the real encouragement and affirmation for our faith?
The question is raised because frequently I get e-mails sent by well-intentioned people who are both serious and sincere about their spiritual lives and daily walk with God. Generally, the e-mails are filled with some emotional story of one sort or another which are meant to make us stop and reflect on some moral virtue befitting life as a Christian. However, most of the stories are fictional and merely illustrative of some act of kindness or of some spiritual virtue. Regrettably, these stories from a spiritual standpoint, like most of the devotional writing and books put out by the thousands (it seems every year) are like meringue on a pie. They taste good but they aren't filling. It is what it is – “fluff.”
One such story, which prompted this essay, was about a young seventeen year old student who allegedly wrote a composition for school on what heaven was like and he died soon thereafter. To me it did not depict the view of heaven which I have gleaned from the scriptures. Sadly, a young man did die shortly after reporting to his family he had written it. Unfortunately, he plagiarized it from a book published by Josh Harris two years before the young man died. (For the rest of the story see: http://www.snopes.com/glurge/room.asp)
There is something worse than not believing in God – it is having a warped view of God. It is precisely here that unbelievers in the world are often conflicted by Christianity because we, who profess to have faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, do NOT all believe and practice the same things. That single fact alone breeds much of the contempt for Christianity that the unbelieving world possesses. It was Jesus, the same One whom many profess as Lord and Savior that prayed, “I do not pray for these alone but also for those who will believe in Me through their word: that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent me” (John 17:20-21).
The picture of heaven presented in the fictional account, of the aforementioned e-mail, is of the young man going to a room in heaven filled with index cards and files categorized of the things he has thought, said and done with emphasis on the file “People I Shared the Gospel With.” As he weeps bitterly for his failures in the scene he has penned of his view of what heaven is like; Jesus comes in and writes his name on every card and file with his blood telling the young man “it is finished.” In other words, it has all been forgiven.
The Bible teaches Heaven is not so much a place, as it is where God is. If that is true there can be no sin there or mention of it. Sin is an earthbound matter and when penitent believers get to heaven “there shall be no more pain, the former things have passed away...there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or cause an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:3; 26). The scene in heaven is not one of weeping bitterly for our failures but of praise and celebration because paradoxically we have been both conquered and made victors by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:10-12).
The forgiveness Jesus offers through his blood is NOT something for the future – it is a present reality! He has not asked us to have faith that He will forgive us when we get to Heaven. He has purchased our redemption by his death and resurrection. He asks that we trust in Him now for the forgiveness of our sins through obedience to His word (John 14:13; Hebrews 5:7-8). It is that faith, in His finished work on the cross, which leads and guides us to heaven (1 John 3:1-3). The apostle Peter said it best when he wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1Pe 1:3-9)
No emotional urban legend or fictional story, however well-intended, can match the words of encouragement and affirmation for my faith in Christ that God has revealed in the Bible. Friends, no one can talk about heaven like God can – He is Heaven. We wouldn’t know anything about heaven if He hadn’t told us about it. Anything else, other than what God has said about Heaven, is either mere speculation at best or superstition at worse. If you profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior be encouraged and have your faith affirmed – get in His word and get His word in you! You won’t be the same and you won’t have to worry about sharing the gospel – it will show and you can tell – wherever you go!
Showing posts with label Encouragement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Encouragement. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
"If It Were Not So"
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place I am going”
(John 14:1-3 NRSV).
Whether one interprets these words of Jesus to be a reference to the church or to heaven may be debatable. There are good arguments for either view. The one thing we can be sure of is that Jesus is reassuring His apostles that in his departure they will not be forgotten. Later in the same chapter He also promises to send the Holy Spirit so as to reassure them they will not be left alone (orphaned) in this world (vs. 18).
Here were men who had left all to follow Jesus for the glorious prospect of a future with Him because He was the Messiah. Consequently, as they saw their future wrapped up in Him, it was difficult for them to envision His leaving. Yet, Jesus reminds them of the essential element of faith.
That element is trust – “Trust in God trust also in me.” They were to trust in Him because of who God is and who He is. When life becomes complex and struggles ensue remember in whom you trust – “do
not let your hearts be troubled.” (see also 2 Tim. 2:8) They had a proven experience or “a track record” with Jesus. In fact, He had always proven to be even more than they expected. For the past three years they had often been “surprised by joy” in the most dire of circumstances.
For instance, gathering twelve baskets of leftovers, after feeding the five thousand with the five loaves and two small fish was no doubt impressive. Or in the next scene, as John records it, they are caught in a fierce storm in the midst of the sea. As they began rowing back to shore they encountered someone walking toward them on the water. They are terrified of what they see until he ventures a word saying, “It is I; do not be afraid.” After hearing his voice, the next verse says, “then they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were headed” (6:5-13; 16-21). We see how the sorrow experienced by all at the tomb of Lazarus was turned into joy (11:17-43). What Jesus wanted to accomplish in all these examples was to direct their trust in the glory of God (11:40). Clearly, they had reason to trust Him – they had experience with Him.
Yet their trust would truly be made to shine forth in the full radiance of God’s glory through His word. Only in this way would their trust in Him prove to be genuine – if such trust were established on the veracity/ truthfulness of His word. If they were going to be where He is, they must continue to live lives which moved at the impulse of His word. Their future with Him was to be marked by their obedience to His word: “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” (vv. 23-24). Thus, Jesus declares, - “If it were not so, I would have told you.”
What Jesus has told us is sufficient to trust Him. To trust in Jesus provides the world with a clear path to knowing and experiencing him, if we live in obedience to His word. He does not provide us with false hope and views for the future. What we have given up in order to receive a glorious future with Him is assured—if it were not so he would have told us!
Will you trust Him to that end?
(John 14:1-3 NRSV).
Whether one interprets these words of Jesus to be a reference to the church or to heaven may be debatable. There are good arguments for either view. The one thing we can be sure of is that Jesus is reassuring His apostles that in his departure they will not be forgotten. Later in the same chapter He also promises to send the Holy Spirit so as to reassure them they will not be left alone (orphaned) in this world (vs. 18).
Here were men who had left all to follow Jesus for the glorious prospect of a future with Him because He was the Messiah. Consequently, as they saw their future wrapped up in Him, it was difficult for them to envision His leaving. Yet, Jesus reminds them of the essential element of faith.
That element is trust – “Trust in God trust also in me.” They were to trust in Him because of who God is and who He is. When life becomes complex and struggles ensue remember in whom you trust – “do
not let your hearts be troubled.” (see also 2 Tim. 2:8) They had a proven experience or “a track record” with Jesus. In fact, He had always proven to be even more than they expected. For the past three years they had often been “surprised by joy” in the most dire of circumstances.
For instance, gathering twelve baskets of leftovers, after feeding the five thousand with the five loaves and two small fish was no doubt impressive. Or in the next scene, as John records it, they are caught in a fierce storm in the midst of the sea. As they began rowing back to shore they encountered someone walking toward them on the water. They are terrified of what they see until he ventures a word saying, “It is I; do not be afraid.” After hearing his voice, the next verse says, “then they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were headed” (6:5-13; 16-21). We see how the sorrow experienced by all at the tomb of Lazarus was turned into joy (11:17-43). What Jesus wanted to accomplish in all these examples was to direct their trust in the glory of God (11:40). Clearly, they had reason to trust Him – they had experience with Him.
Yet their trust would truly be made to shine forth in the full radiance of God’s glory through His word. Only in this way would their trust in Him prove to be genuine – if such trust were established on the veracity/ truthfulness of His word. If they were going to be where He is, they must continue to live lives which moved at the impulse of His word. Their future with Him was to be marked by their obedience to His word: “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” (vv. 23-24). Thus, Jesus declares, - “If it were not so, I would have told you.”
What Jesus has told us is sufficient to trust Him. To trust in Jesus provides the world with a clear path to knowing and experiencing him, if we live in obedience to His word. He does not provide us with false hope and views for the future. What we have given up in order to receive a glorious future with Him is assured—if it were not so he would have told us!
Will you trust Him to that end?
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