While strolling through a local cemetery, I noticed the following epitaph on a tombstone:

“If Love Could Have Saved You
You Would Have Lived Forever”

I had to stop and ponder that for a minute. I was struck not only by how well it declared the survivor’s affection for the person buried beneath, but also punctuated the sadness and impotence we feel when faced with our mortality.

Then I remembered how, as followers of Jesus, the Scriptures lead us to a far different conclusion. There is a person in whom both perfect love and life-giving power are found. There is someone whose love is so powerful that he can save us so we can live forever. His name is Jesus, and he came to earth to die for this very purpose.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Your ability to receive this gift of eternal life is conditional, however, on two things. 1. You must believe that it is true.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

2. And you must reject sin and commit to holy living.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord… (Acts 3:19)

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

The fulfilment of the promise of eternal life is a physical, bodily resurrection. This is the great cause for hope possessed by all who have placed their trust in Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 declares it plainly:

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

And, as the angels in Acts 1:11 declared:

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

In future posts, we’ll explore other good reasons for followers of Jesus to rise above the circumstances and challenges we face. Jesus himself said:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

 

 

By Rick Sentle

Hey, wait a minute, I kind of resemble that remark. But then again, don’t we all. It’s easy to develop a little roughness with all the hard things we deal with in life.  One thing is certain, we all have situations, circumstances and people who can wear on us, but the good news is we don’t have to deal with them on our own. We have someone who longs to help us through our tough times.

Our reaction to the rough things can have effects.  The first thing that came to mind was callouses- from the Latin meaning tough skin. The dictionary defines calloused as: made hard; insensitive, indifferent or unsympathetic.  If you’ve faced a lot of hardship and trials, that may describe you. But I don’t think that this description was what God had in mind for His children.

Let’s look to Jesus for a minute. Jesus grew up as son of Joseph the carpenter. Back in that time a carpenter was not just wood and nails.   It was stonework, building and many physical tasks.  I’m sure Jesus knew a little about callouses. The physical ones. He also knew something about making things.  Beautiful things.

The craftsman knows that sometimes you have to get out the hammer and chisel to knock off the rough edges.  You may have to shave away things on the outside to get the shape you want. And before you are finished you may need to rub things down with sandpaper to smooth things out.

Let’s get back to our rough edges. We all have a few. Some may be physical, some may be emotional and some may be spiritual. Each causes their own problems. Some of these took some time to develop. Some are deeply ingrained into who we are.  None of us can fix these on our own. They won’t change overnight. But if we don’t recognize the problem and work to correct it there are serious consequences in our life.

Jesus spent a lot of time in His earthly ministry talking with His disciples and common folk about God’s plan for us. He seemed to run across quite a selection of folks who had seen tough times. People who looked to Him for hope.

In His teachings He used many examples, parables about the hardened condition of people. He warned us of many things to look out for. He also talked a lot about callouses on people’s hearts.  Quoting from the Old Testament He helps us see part of the problem  …. wander from Your way(God’s)…. harden your heart …. do not revere God.   Sounds like trouble to me.

Other scripture (Exodus; Proverbs; Psalms; Isaiah) point to similar patterns-….hearts calloused….. ears dull….. closed eyes …. separated from God.    But the good news is there is a better way.

He shared these warnings with us to keep us on the right path, the path he leads us on. He lived his life as an example. Even in the face of persecution, He chose Love. We have to make the choice to allow the hardness to take over, and affect our lives or through His Grace and the power of His Spirit, follow Him, and grow in love.    It’s either/or – we choose.

We need to look at things as Jesus did.  Sometimes his way seemed backwards. In the natural we think an eye for an eye, but Jesus says turn the other cheek. In Matthew He told us …”you have heard it said ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven”.  That kind of goes against the grain of the natural way of thinking.  But He looked at things in the Spiritual and not the natural.

Maybe there’s someone out there that “rubs you the wrong way”. If we act in the natural way we can have trouble. But if we recognize that God may be using this like sand paper, to rub off our rough edges, we can rise above and react with love. Maybe we need to work on our patience. Maybe we need to recognize there is a reason that person is acting in hurtful ways. Maybe we need to be reminded of the grace that God showed us. It definitely won’t be easy.  That’s why we need to look to Jesus and remember that we are all a work in progress.

When Jesus was asked what was The most important commandment, He replied –”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. And love one another. All the other laws and Prophets hang on these two commands.”

The rough edges we’ve built up make us insensitive, indifferent and unsympathetic. They can make us hard.  They can separate us from God.   But if we let the love of Jesus Reign in or hearts we can shine our light to a world that needs to see it.  Demonstrate true Christian love – you will know my children by their love.

Hebrews 4:7   …..Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.