Life is Good
Eternity is Better
This passage in John 14 is a favorite of many. I consider it the comfort chapter in the Bible. Jesus knew that his time on earth was coming to and end, and he wanted to reassure his disciples everything would be okay and he had it under control. Oh how I have clung to these verses for the last seven years. I claimed this verse over and over in my head, but I could not really feel it in my heart.
While I worked so hard to find some cure for my seizures and depression, my focus remained on what I could do. How could I use my knowledge about science, pharmacy, and medicine to make me better? Me, me, me, I, I, I…God couldn’t get a word in edgewise! It wasn’t until I was completely and totally exhausted that I gave God a chance to say, “Hey, look what I can do for you!” Once I let go of control and let God be God, he began to show me amazing things. The many times I read these verses, I thought I “got it.” Heaven is out there somewhere for us to live an eternal life and we will be happy.
Somewhere, someday…but not now.
It is so easy to get wrapped up in the problems of this world…we certainly have plenty of them! But when we begin to compare our life here with the life Jesus has prepared for us in Heaven, do some of those problems seem trivial? We all must deal with problems on a daily basis, because we must live in this world for now. But in John 16:33, God tells us that yes, we will have trouble in this world, but he has overcome the world!
I recently heard Jeff Strueker speak at a writer’s conference. A former army ranger and subject of the national best-seller, “Black Hawk Down,” he challenged me to think about life and death, from a Christian, eternal perspective. He was faced with the harsh reality that he was walking into his death during a mission in Somalia, and had to put his “bullet-proof faith” into action. When he was commanded to walk into the most dangerous situation in his life, he realized that no matter what, he could not lose. If he survived the mission, he would get to return home to live happily with his new wife. If he did not survive, he would get to enter his eternal home, Heaven, and live forever in the presence of our living God!
If we could begin to approach our struggles and fears in life with an eternal perspective such as this, how much better would we be able to handle our day to day problems? How much better would we be able to handle life and death situations? Jesus has our eternal home ready. He has taken special care to prepare a specific place for each and every one of his children.
Life can be good and life can be bad. But if you know Jesus as your savior, eternity will be AWESOME.
Life can be good and life can be bad. But if you know Jesus as your savior, eternity will be AWESOME.
