“Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” (Phil. 1:24)
I ask a question of you who are in a hurry to go home to heaven, who can think of no greater pleasure than to be in the presence of the Lamb of God.
What’s your hurry?
Are there no souls left to reach, are all the lost found, is everyone of those you love and care for born again?
Paul understood those words the Holy Spirit used him to write, he knew there was no way that he could reach everyone, but he also knew that it was profitable to restrain his desires to go home and be with the Lord just for that reason, so that he could continue to be used here for the glory of the Almighty.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
Seeing how all who are hid in Christ have the full assurance of their eternal salvation, I ask again, what’s the rush? And I bring this before your contemplation, if going home to glory is the foremost thought on your mind, while being fully aware that there is still work to be done, still people to reach with His truths, doesn’t it seem just a tad selfish to be thinking only of going to heaven?
I consider that statement, in no way inferring it upon myself, akin to Proverbs 1:6. “To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.”
It is not to say that person you have been witnessing to will have no one else to speak with about the wonders and mercies of the Living God, none of us are as important to His cause as we sometimes like to think, but it does mean that if your mind is continually focusing on going on to glory, then it is you that you are thinking about, and not others. And you cannot love your neighbor as yourself if you are exalting your desires above their needs.
And if they have not yet been born again, then they still have the greatest need ever known to mankind.
I believe that most of you understand this truth as well, when life is not going as we planned, when hardships in whatever form arrive, we desperately want to be relieved of them by going home to heaven. Not so much when the sky is blue and the sun is shining though.
“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2nd Cor. 6:2)
Somebody somewhere out there is hurting, some are literally at the end of their rope, and although I fully understand how it feels to just want to be gone from this evil wicked world and be in the presence of joy forever, I also know that as long as there is an opportunity to exalt His name above the heavens to another person, I should not be in a hurry to see my own desires in this regard to be fulfilled.
What’s the hurry? Can’t you wait one more day? Ten more years? Can you compare forever to a few more decades of service to your King in this land of sorrow?
I equate this letter in a way to a question I have asked of people who profess to be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I have received some very interesting looks from them.
“Would you rather die tomorrow, or be raptured tomorrow?”
Yes, my friends, I fully understand, I detest this planet as much as the next person who serves the Almighty, I desire nothing more than to know the fulfillment of Psalm 16:11 in my life.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
But I also know there is yet much work to be done, and I will not shirk my duties to my King because of my own selfish desires.
