“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21)
One of the greatest pleasures, and for that fact, privileges for those who have been born-again is to contemplate their first day after their last day here, to remember the truths of the Scriptures and to let our imaginations consider what our eternal home will be like.
It rarely does not cause a smile to enter into our hearts knowing that one day that work will be done, eternal pleasures await us, and we will finally be able to see and speak with in person He whom we have desired to be in the presence of for so long.
“And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10:38)
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (2nd Tim 2:12)
How many of us can say that the same smile in our heart, that joy that causes it to beat a little faster is there when we know that suffering for His name is on the horizon, that the burden of that cross is going to be increased, that the commandment to leave the still water has been given, and you are to prepare yourself to walk into the fire?
If you want some idea of how you will react when those trials and tribulations arrive in your life, simply look back to your past and see your actions, the intent of your heart when the security of sameness was replaced with the immediacy of the moment.
My beautiful wife gave me another shirt recently that has on the front of it, “Faith over Fear.” The Almighty allows moments of fear to rise up in us, but when they remain, Proverbs 24:10 becomes a truth.
“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”
Adversity, those moments either expected or otherwise, that remove from us that security of sameness, are meant to reveal to us where our faith rests, and the fear of those moments, if it is not suppressed and covered over by faith, may reveal something to you that you do not want to admit to yourself, that the opening verse to this short letter was no more to you than a nice memory verse, that when the fear arrived, you were not only not willing to stand, but some at that time have even taken their hand off the plow.
Fear my friends must be dealt with in the mind we have that serves Christ, it must overpower the flesh that serves the law of sin, it must, we must, hear the truth of Romans 8:37 in those moments.
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
Look at the world around you today, find one person outside of the body of Christ who is not living in some form of fear, who has not succumbed to the wiles of the devil, who is not anxious or nervous about the future.
“And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” (Eph. 6:15)
In a sense, every moment we should be prepared to go home, but at the same time, every moment we should be prepared to suffer for Him whom we serve, and both with the same anticipation of joy and thanksgiving.
Every person in heaven today knows these words as truth, how many still have regrets for not applying them only they know.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;” (James 1:2)
I read some words the other day that I have heard numerous times in my life before, but until they were put into proper Scriptural and Spiritual context for me, they were no more than words.
“All’s well that ends well.”
Everything is going to end well for us who have been crucified with Christ, so my friends, all is well.
Prepare for joy when the security of sameness is removed from you.
