Posted on 08/07/2014 2:29:27 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
Do I as a living, breathing, conscious person have a concrete hope for my future? What do I have to look forward to? At times, when I discover that my own spirit is sagging and a sense of heaviness intrudes on me, I sometimes wonder why the gloomy cloud is perched above my head.
Biblical eschatology gives us solid reasons for expecting a personal continuity of life. Eternal life for the individual is not an empty human aspiration built on myth, but an assurance promised us by Christ Himself. His own triumph over the grave is the church’s hope for our participation in His life.
We have heard so much ridicule and mocking about pie-in-the-sky theology that I’m afraid we’ve lost our appetite for it. What the Scriptures promise for our future involves a lot more than a perpetual visit to Mother Butler’s. Jesus Christ and Simple Simon have very little in common.
The promise of heaven is indeed glorious—a promise that not only anchors the soul but fires the soul with hope. Life is not an outrageous horror, though we witness outrages daily. The outrage is not the bottom line. The sting of death has been overcome.
The victory of Christ is not established by platitudes or conjured-up positive mental attitudes. Jesus is not the Good Humor Man. His call to joy is rooted in reality: “Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Therein resides our future hope—that Christ has overcome the world. He stared directly into the face of death and death blinked.
Coram Deo
Reflect on this truth as you face your problems today: Jesus overcame the world and has given you the power to do likewise.
Passages for Further Study
Revelation 21:1–3
ping
I do not fear the future for myself but I do fear for how it will affect so many others. I have been on this earth for almost 77 years and have seen good times and not so good times. What I, and others have enjoyed will never again be experienced by those much younger than us. I fear for the future of this once great nation and will do what ever I can to keep it as it WAS.
I strongly recommend the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn.
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