Encouragement

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Heaven Doesn’t Have to Wait

I was reading a paper about a cross country race, in the article it stated how beautiful the course was. One of the reporters interviewed some of the runners and asked them what they thought of the scenery. One of the guys said he really didn’t get to enjoy the scenery; he was too focused on running. This statement really hit home with me, what’s the point of running the race if you can’t enjoy the scenery? If you remember in scripture it speaks of our life in faith as a race:

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. – Hebrews 12:1

This got me thinking, how many Christians are so focused on finishing that they are not enjoying the race? Now don’t get me wrong, the race or life, whatever you want to call it stinks at times, but did God really intend for us to just focus on heaven, not our life on earth? I don’t think so; in fact I think He wants our life on earth to be an expression of what life in heaven will be like. What I mean by this is God built us for the purpose of serving Him and enjoying a relationship with Him on earth and in heaven. God wants us to be happy and productive on earth, as we would be in heaven. This is a not a new concept, but I believe it is a lost one. People are too focused on hanging on instead of living life the way God intended life to be lived. We should be celebrating life, not mourning in it.

Getting Our Heads out of the Sand

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. – Hebrews 12:2

When you go to the zoo to see a lion or monkey, the thought that goes through your head probably isn’t,” that poor animal, he’s caged up”. I hate zoos; to me they are big circuses, that showcase animals for our amusement. Could you think what it must be like for that animal, being taken from his homeland and put in a cage, so people could look at him? In the same way, I feel we (Christians) have allowed ourselves to be caged by our surroundings.

I think one of the hardest things about faith is that we don’t know when our time here is ended. It could be seventy years away, or seven minutes. How do you prepare for something you are not sure of? Well the answer is simple; we give our hearts to God, in fact that might be the easiest decision of our lives. Why is it we give God eternity, but we can’t trust Him with our lives? Why does God know better in heaven, but on earth we are in control? The main reason we imprison ourselves is we take our eyes off of Jesus. We do not yield to His authority on earth. In fact I feel as Christians we have an identity crisis. Many accept and believe we live with the Spirit of God in our hearts but there is no evidence to show for it. We do not love others, we are not using our abilities to God’s glory, and we’re not taking those steps out in faith to grow in our walk with Christ. We are living in a cage when we have the key in our hands the whole time! We could be free and living life the way God intended if we wanted to do, but most of the time we don’t know how. We don’t know how because we don’t know the ways of God. We’ve lost sight of His vision for our lives, remember what God tells us:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” - Jeremiah 29:11

What is remarkable about this was God was speaking to those who were in exile; they were in exile because they disobeyed God. Yet God was giving them this faithful promise, if you follow me I will bless you. The devil is like the zoo keeper, he wants to keep you caged up, and he doesn’t want you to be free. He wants you to be unhappy because when you are unhappy you are more likely to sin. The devil doesn’t want us to have hope in the future or have a vision, and many of us have believed in this. That’s why our heads are stuck in the sand. We are living lives that God didn’t want us to live, and it is breaking His heart. He is looking at us like we look at the animals at the zoo, “there is no reason to cage them, they should be free.”

Our Cure

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
- Hebrews 12:1

When you look at the tunnel called life, what do you see? Do you see light at the end of it? Do you see darkness? How about a bunch of brick blocking your entrance to the tunnel? These brick are self-made, and before we can begin to experience life in freedom we must first take stock of what has happened. When you are in a car accident, you have to go over everything that happened leading up to the accident and after. We need to do the same with our lives. We have to figure out when went wrong, what caused our blindness and draw it out step by step. It’s not a fun process, but it is eye opening. This is where God’s grace comes in. Ultimately it won’t be you but God that will change you. Your thinking, the way you live your life, and grace is the catalyst for that change. Ask anyone whose been addicted to anything, the hardest thing is to admit you have a problem. But to know that you are loved and accepted regardless of what that problem is, that will change your life. It is love that is undeserved but God gives it anyway. Because the most important thing to Him is you, and He cares for you more than words can explain. Yeah things have happened, you have turned away, but the door is always open. If you’re willing to admit you have a problem, God is willing to take you back. And this is our cure. Once we experience the love that grace brings us we will want to change. We will take that key and leave the cage and we will experience the freedom God wanted us to have in the first place. Jesus didn’t die on the cross just for forgiveness of sin, but to break the power of sin so we could live our lives free from its command. Peace may have eluded us but we admit what we have done God will transform our hearts in a way words cannot express. But it is up to us to take that first step, and yes it is a big first step. But that first step will change your life and will change the way you live your life, forever.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, and will bring you back from captivity. – Jeremiah 29:11,13,14

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