The Believer’s Destanation

Read | John 14:1-3

The Bible is clear that those who trust in Jesus as their personal Savior will have eternal life. Furthermore, it promises that followers of God will spend eternity with Him in heaven.

The New Testament contains approxi- mately 200 references to heaven, most of which are from the teachings of Jesus Himself. Obviously, the topic was quite important to our Lord. Why, then, do we often fail to talk about it ourselves?

Sadly, one reason we ignore the subject is that we simply feel too satisfied here on earth. Maybe we think we have it pretty good, whether because of a loving family, a stable job, or a nice home. Surrounded by such comfort, it can seem hard to imagine an even better place.

Other people, however, do not have it so easy here on earth. They are the ones who most easily grasp the concept of heaven. They are the individuals who live their lives in need, nursing the belief that life beyond earth will supply all that they lack.

You see, it is rarely our desperation that makes it difficult to envision our heavenly home. Rather, our success is oftentimes the greatest obstacle to a desire for the everlasting home where we truly belong. We can become so distracted by earthly things that we grow blind to the spiritual reality of eternal life. Why don’t we think more about heaven? Very simply, it is because many of us don’t want to go yet!

What in your life might be obstructing the view of your heavenly home? Jesus has gone before us to prepare our eternal dwelling, and who would know how to fix a place to our liking better than our Creator? Don’t let anything dim your vision of the excellent future home awaiting you.

http://www.intouch.org

The Lightest Cross

By: L. B. Cowman

The Lightest Cross

“And he went out carrying his own cross” (John 19:17).

There is a poem called “The Changed Cross.” It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose an other instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. “Ah, this I can wear with comfort,” she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her.

Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.

At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be borne. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from Heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.

God knows best what cross we need to bear. We do not know how heavy other people’s crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy it is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross twined with flowers. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that not one of them suited us so well as our own.
–Glimpses through Life’s Windows

***

If thou, impatient, dost let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again;
Nor in another: here and here alone
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake.

In other worlds we may more perfectly

Love Him and serve Him, praise Him,

Grow nearer and nearer to Him with delight.

But then we shall not any more

Be called to suffer, which is our appointment here.

Canst thou not suffer, then, one hour or two?

If He should call thee from thy cross today,

Saying: “It is finished-that hard cross of thine

From which thou prayest for deliverance,

” Thinkest thou not some passion of regret

Would overcome thee? Thou would’st say,

“So soon? Let me go back and suffer yet awhile

More patiently. I have not yet praised God.”

Whensoe’er it comes, that summons that we look for,

It will seem soon, too soon. Let us take heed in time

That God may now be glorified in us.

–Ugo Bassi‘s Sermon in a Hospital.

The Way to Heaven

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father,

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except through me. - John 14:6

 

A way always leads somewhere: Jesus is the way from earth to heaven and also from heaven to earth. Through Him we get to God and through Him God comes to us. He is the true and only ladder whose foot rests on the earth and whose top reaches up to the very glory of God. In His humanity Jesus comes down to the lowest depths of human need and sorrow. Had He been God only and not man, He could not have done this. The incarnation was the lowering of the ladder until it rested in the deepest valleys. There is now no shame or guilt in this world from which there is not a ladder of light with its steps leading upward to God and heaven..

While Christ‘s humanity brings the ladder down to earth’s places of sorest need, His divinity carries the ladder up past the shining stars into the the glory of God. On one page of the New Testament we find Jesus on a cross, dying in darkness and shame between criminals. We open another page and we see that same Jesus in the midst of the heavenly brightness, still bearing the wound marks but crowned in glory. Behold the ladder from earth to heaven!

A ladder is a way for people to climb. Christ is the way then by which sinners can go up out of their sins to the purity and blessing of heaven. One thing that is critical to understand is that there is only one way. Christ is the only Mediator. We can enter the Father’s family only through Him. Grace can come to us only through Him. There is no choice: if we do not go by this one way we can never reach home. We must not forget that a way is meant to be walked in. We must put our feet on this ladder and go up rung by rung until we reach the topmost step which will be heaven.

Apply This To Your Life Today… This week rejoice in and reflect on your relationship with Christ, by which you will achieve salvation. We have so much to be thankful for, because He had so much love for us!

Don’t Be Offended

“Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Luke 7:23).

It is sometimes very difficult not to be offended in Jesus Christ. The offenses may be circumstantial. I find myself in a prison-house–a narrow sphere, a sick chamber, an unpopular position–when I had hoped for wide opportunities. Yes, but He knows what is best for me. My environment is of His determining. He means it to intensify my faith, to draw me into nearer communion with Himself, to ripen my power. In the dungeon my soul should prosper.

The offense may be mental. I am haunted by perplexities, questions, which I cannot solve. I had hoped that, when I gave myself to Him, my sky would always be clear; but often it is overspread by mist and cloud. Yet let me believe that, if difficulties remain, it is that I may learn to trust Him all the more implicitly–to trust and not be afraid. Yes, and by my intellectual conflicts, I am trained to be a tutor to other storm-driven men.

L.B. Cowman

***

The offense may be spiritual. I had fancied that within His fold I should never feel the biting winds of temptation; but it is best as it is. His grace is magnified. My own character is matured. His Heaven is sweeter at the close of the day. There I shall look back on the turnings and trials of the way, and shall sing the praises of my Guide. So, let come what will come, His will is welcome; and I shall refuse to be offended in my loving Lord. –Alexander Smellie

***

Blessed is he whose faith is not offended,

When all around his way

The power of God is working out deliverance

For others day by day;

Though in some prison drear his own soul languish,

Till life itself be spent,

Yet still can trust his Father’s love and purpose,

And rest therein content.

Blessed is he, who through long years of suffering,

Cut off from active toil,

Still shares by prayer and praise the work of others,

And thus “divides the spoil.”

Blessed are thou, O child of God, who sufferest,

And canst not understand

The reason for thy pain, yet gladly leavest

Thy life in His blest Hand.

Yea, blessed art thou whose faith is “not offended”

By trials unexplained,

By mysteries unsolved, past understanding,

Until the goal is gained.

–Freda Hanbury Allen

Eye’s On The Prize!

 Luke 10:18-20

Jesus said to the men, “I saw Satan (the devil) falling like lightning from the sky. Listen! I gave you power to walk on snakes and scorpions. I gave you more power than the Enemy (the devil) has. Nothing will hurt you. Yes, the spirits obey you. And be happy. Why? Not because you have this power, but be happy because your names are written in heaven.”(ERV)   Full Text

Key Thought

If you are like me at all, you find yourself distracted from the ultimate goal by all sorts of temporary opportunities, achievements, and victories. However, I’ve come to realize that Satan lets few victories remain without counter-attack and that I often let my guard down after a major victory. While Jesus is thrilled about the disciples’ successes, he also knows their vulnerabilities and wants to keep them focused on the ultimate blessing — eternity with God in Heaven. Let’s “keep our eyes on the prize” while we rejoice that Jesus does his great work through us!

Today’s Prayer

Father, I confess that I let the world, and those moments of glory that I find in the worlddistract me from my ultimate goal of spending eternal life with you in Heaven. Keep my hope focused on the glory yet to be revealed in me at Jesus’ coming. At the same time, Father, please work through me to do your work and to bring you praise. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

By Phil Ware

The Lightest Cross

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“And he went out carrying his own cross” (John 19:17).

There is a poem called “The Changed Cross.” It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose an other instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. “Ah, this I can wear with comfort,” she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her.

Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.

At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be borne. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from Heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.

God knows best what cross we need to bear. We do not know how heavy other people’s crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy it is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross twined with flowers. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that not one of them suited us so well as our own.
–Glimpses through Life’s Windows

Streams in The Desert