Life on Earth - A Drop in the Ocean

How can you compare a drop of water to the entire ocean?  People have no idea, actually our finite minds can't fathom, how long eternity is.  How much more overwhelming is the thought when we consider eternal judgment!

Amazingly, Jesus describes it like this.  "This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."  Notice, His definition is not duration that it lasts forever, but rather a quality of life that comes only from knowing God.  So eternal judgment is this life's final exam, that is answered by whether one knows God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. 

When I was a dumb, little kid, I wrestled with the idea of how could we live forever, and what would we do, and how could I stand it.  So I thought it might be easier to just go to hell, burn up, and have it all over with, sort of like the mistaken idea some people have about suicide.  Then someone told me that hell is forever too.  Wow!  My unthinkable concept changed immediately!

There is a truth about God that is hard for us to handle.  Absolutely Just.  We somewhat grasp the concept of mercy, that God forgives the worst sinner, which Paul considered himself to be.  However, what do we know about Him being perfectly just?  Every sin will get perfect retribution.  It will be paid in full.  God is not mocked, what is sown shall be reaped.

There is a hint of this in the well-known John 3:16 verse, "For God so loved the world that He gave HIs only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Notice the contrast, either perish or have eternal life.  Then in verse 18, this truth is brought home stronger, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."  Sin deserves death.  Man, who is sinful, is condemned already, and rightly deserve death.  

So God, in His perfect mercy and love for us, sent Jesus to pay the "condemnation" penalty because He wants us to be free and live with Him forever.  Ephesians 1:5 reveals that His eternal plan is that we would be "holy and blameless before Him."  That is why receiving what Jesus did on the cross and His resurrection is so crucial.  Either you accept that Jesus, God's Son, paid the supreme price and eternal consequences for your sin, or that incredibly serious debt still remains.  You are rightly condemned for not only your sin but also for rejecting God's love in the person of Jesus who took your punishment.

Why is eternal judgment in the foundational doctrines of Hebrews 6 that needs to be settled if we are going to mature?  Eternal judgment is an awesome reality that makes the whole issue of being saved absolutely the most important step anyone and everyone must personally take.  Understanding God's justice, and then His beautiful mercy in paying everything for us, will produce a heart of gratefulness and a strong foundation upon which our life always rests.  We belong to Him and are secure forever because of what Jesus has done.  Secondly, this need for everyone to receive Jesus changes evangelism  from a nice thing to an absolutely necessary reality.  This truth sets us free from our self-consciousness of how we feel or what others think, to being unashamed as God's representative to bring this good news to all men.  We are His instrument to share and be a witness of HIs love for each one. 

No one can know their purpose in life unless they understanding how eternal judgment is the climax of sowing and reaping.  God is not mocked, what one sows he will reap.  Standing before God is the most crucial appointment we will ever have with the most awesome possibilities: everlasting joy in the Father's presence or eternal separation from all that is good.  We need to see this life as an opportunity to be a light for Him, with eternal rewards.  No one will even give a drink of cold water to a child without reaping a reward, how much more sharing Jesus with a sinner who otherwise would be lost forever.  The time on earth may be only a drop in a bucket compared to eternity, but this life is the proving ground where God is revealing who He is, and empowering us to will and work for His pleasure.  So live today with the realization that every choice will have eternal ramifications, for good reward or evil consequences.  Your choice.   

"Do You Need Me Now?"

"Do you need me now?" may sound similar to the Verizon commercial depicting the man who is wondering if someone can hear him now.  Yet Jesus is clearly asking, "Do you need Me?'  Do you need His saving power, His help, and His direction?

One of the absolute signs of the fallen nature of man is that we think we don't need God.  In general, man is so proud.  We even seem to act like we are "God" when we contend our way is best, our thoughts are correct, and deep down we feel that we can always work our way out of trouble.  Yet, pride was the cause of Satan's fall and the motivation of Eve's eating the forbidden fruit to become "like God."   

Have you reached the place where all your ways and efforts cannot possibly get you out of a situation and you really need God?  What about being cleansed from the foolish or wrong choices you have made?  What about having a genuine peace and joy about your life?  How are your relationships going?  Maybe the barrier is that we don't trust that God can really help and we are still looking for other ways to make it.  

Perhaps all of life is a long-term incremental course to teach us that all the plans of man are like a barren desert.  Sometimes there seems no easy way out, and all we can do is be like Peter, who when asked if he was going to leave Jesus, said "to whom shall we go, You have the words of eternal life."  Yet Jeremiah 17 states that trusting God in difficult circumstances is like fresh streams of water to your soul. In His light we become light, resulting in a progressive growth into Christ until He literally becomes all in all. 

Certainly, there is no situation so totally out of our hands as what happens the moment we die.  All our exalted ideas and philosophies are powerless to change things.  Everything that follows is completely up to God.  Is He faithful to do what He promised for those who put faith in Him?  Man is completely helpless to control his eternal destiny.

God created man to know Him and be with Him forever.  The entirety of life has many significant activities and milestones, but when it is all said and done, we stand before God accountable for what we have done with His Son.  "Behold the man" may have been Pilate's words to the crowd, but the reality is that everything depends on how you behold Him.  Unless life is an opportunity to respond to Him and all He did for man by dying on the cross, than the only other option is that all life is a period of struggle to survive until you die.  What a completely wasted existence to fail to find the purpose for which we were made!

Christmas isn't just about a baby in a manger and all the periphery around it.  Rather, it is a divine statement that God sent Jesus to meet our need and save man.  A valid question is "From what?" From sin and eternal death, from the consequences of his own fleshly nature that leads to death, from the human pride that refuses to make room for God is his life.  Maybe the Christmas bells will ring out for you this year, "Do you need Me now?"  Eternity and your being complete depends on your answer.

Eternity in Light of God's Gift of Peace

"When you are dead, you are dead a long time." was my father's only words to me after hearing about the stupid thing I had done.  I'm sure he wanted to say more but chose not to.
 That day on the farm I was a teenage boy working in the field with our LA Case, a strong 4-5 bottom-plow tractor.  As evening neared, rather foolishly, I chose to go home through the ditch instead of going back to the driveway.  From the bottom of the ditch the tractor jerked as it started up the steep incline.  The climb was too much and it suddenly began to lift the front wheels off the ground.  The tractor reared up so quickly that I fell to the ground.  Then I watched in utter dismay as this powerful tractor killed its motor standing straight up just over me.  I slowly crawled out from under it and walked home, in awe at what happened and mostly, that I was still alive.
 In a cartoon by Jeff Larson, a drop of water, representing our life on earth, is falling in to a bucket of water marked eternity. The point is to live your life aware of the fact that your time on earth is extremely short compared to eternity.  Our time of life actually is totally insignificant compared to the billions of years with forever to go that eternity represents, and yet everything depends on what choices or seeds we sow in this realm.
 However, eternity isn't just duration, but rather a quality of life, thanks to God sending and revealing Jesus.  "This is eternal life, that they know thee, the only true God, and the One whom He sent." (John 17:3)  Christmas clearly shows that the Heart of God is to reveal Himself to man and make a way for us to enjoy Him forever.  Jesus came to earth and manifested the very nature and greatness of God, so we could know Him. 
 We come to know Him by accepting who He is and what He has done.  It pleased the Father to provide an innocent, perfect sacrifice to pay for all of man's failures.  Jesus rose from the dead and demonstrated his complete victory over sin and death. We can live because He lives.  And finally, God sends the Holy Spirit to personally reveal Jesus to all who come to Him and desire to walk with Him.
 Peace on earth, good will toward men.  In a quiet, powerful way the little baby born in Bethlehem sends an eternal message that God longs for us to be with Him and He is willing to go to any and all costs to make it possible.   The starting point is realizing that we need His shed blood and sacrifice to cover our wrong choices, and secondly, that trusting His love enough to invite Him to rule over us, we submit to Him as "Lord" forever.
The Christmas carols tell of the quiet and peaceful night. Those who reponded, who came to adore Him, experienced the peace and quiet of God's glory.  Today He asks you to simply "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) and to receive His incredible gift of peace and quiet in your inner man.  Life is much more than these 70 or 80 years on the earth; it really does last, as Dad said, "a long time." So the most important and critical choice you will ever make is to let Jesus change your eternal destiny.  Come, taste and see that He is good.  With a grateful and sincere heart, declare "Jesus, I come to you believing you paid for my sins and I am unashamed to say, Jesus, you are my Lord."
You have just received the gift that Jesus brought for all men at that first Christmas.