Living Forward – Hebrews 11:24-26

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Steve

“By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he was grown up. He chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of having the temporary pleasures of sin. He thought that the abuses he suffered for Christ were more valuable than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking forward to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24-26, CEB).

A few years ago I wrote a book entitled, The Kingdom Order: Living for the Future in the Present. It took me 12 chapters and about 250 pages in the book to make the same point about the Christian life that the Hebrews writer makes in these 3 verses describing the godly legacy of Moses.

Like Moses, Christians live life by looking forward to their reward–living forward!

Human beings were created for eternal life! God created people for eternity and eternity is ever present in the life we now live.

So, when you follow Jesus, you start to live life life forward…

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Desperately Seeking Humans: Part 3, A Cosmic Love Affair – Revelation 21-22

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Steve

“I heard a loud voice from the throne say, ‘Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away’” (Revelation 21:3-4, CEB).

Because God is love, He is seeking humans to receive His love. But, God’s love is eternal so His love affair with the human race is of cosmic proportions.

You see, God is preparing a place for Him to live together with us, forever!

While God dwells with us (in us) by His Spirit in this world, in the world to come this cosmic love affair will no longer be constrained by distance. God plans to dwell among us!

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Desperately Seeking Humans: Part 2, Real Reality – 1 John 5:6-12

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Steve

“And this is the testimony: God gave eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have God’s Son does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12, CEB).

God is love. But, love, God’s love, is incomplete and unfulfilled unless it’s received and reciprocated. So, God is desperately seeking humans to love Him back. To have fellowship with Him. To enter into a love-relationship with Him.

But, the reality of God’s love is not the reality we see. The reality we see says that life on Earth is all there is. The reality we see tells us that when we die we’re done.

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Homework In Heaven? – Psalm 144:3-4

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Steve

“O Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow” (Psalm 144:3-4, NASB).

Do you ever in your mind step out of your life and try to see the big picture, try to put your life in perspective, try to look at it from God’s point of view? If you do, you might see things the way David did in this Psalm. You might see that in the big picture of things, your life is like a breath or a shadow. You’re not here very long and your life in this world is soon forgotten.

Now, I’m not trying to be pessimistic or deterministic. I’m trying to make a point. We have a backwards view of life. We live our lives in this world like they are the main reality and life after death is the “afterlife.” But the reality is that eternal life is the real reality and our lives in this world are just an introduction, a pre-life training for eternity. And death is our graduation to eternal life!

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Eternal Preparation – Mark 9:43-48

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Steve

“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48, NASB).

This saying of Jesus alludes to the very last verse of Isaiah, which speaks of the punishment for rebellion against God as endless destruction.

John had asked Jesus what to do about someone who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name but was not part of the group of His disciples. Jesus answered not to be so concerned about someone doing good in His name but be concerned about false teachers. Be more concerned about someone who causes others to stop trusting in God or prevents them from ever starting to trust in God.

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The Good Thing About Death – Psalm 116:15

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Steve

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones” (Psalm 116:15, NASB).

With Easter approaching it seems appropriate to be thinking about death. And the good thing about death!

While Easter is the time we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, we should also remember that the only way human beings enter into eternal life is through the death of the physical body.

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Living Like It Matters for Eternity – Matthew 25

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Steve

We live in the time between the first and second comings of Jesus. It’s a time when we are joined to Jesus by His Spirit but awaiting his final coming. At His coming we will dwell in His personal presence. When Christ appears for the second time, those in Christ who are dead will be raised and along with those who are living in Christ will be transformed to share in the reality of the new heavens and earth where God personally dwells.

To live effectively and productively in this present age, Christians should be focused on eternity while making the most of the life they have in this present world.

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Eternal Matters – Revelation 19:7-8

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Steve

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints” (Revelation 19:7-8, ESV).

To prepare for a modern wedding, the bride-to-be starts weeks or maybe even months in advance to select a wedding dress, shoes, jewelry and other attire to wear at the wedding ceremony. Before the ceremony the bride-to-be will go to the beauty salon to have her hair done and have a facial and manicure so she can look especially beautiful for the groom at the wedding ceremony.

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Heavenly Graduation – Revelation 2:17

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Steve

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17, NLT).

The book of Revelation opens with a series of personal messages to the seven churches of Asia. Asia was a Roman province in the geographical area that is now western Turkey. The cities where the seven churches were located were joined by a road system that formed a geographical triangle.

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Eternal Beginnings – Daniel 2:35, 44

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Steve

“The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth. That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.” (Daniel 2:35, 44, NLT).