Saturday, April 20, 2024
In the movie City Slickers there is a scene where they share their best day and then their worst day while they’re on the cattle trail. Even though his marriage is in shambles, the first guy says his best day was his wedding. He describes his tuxedo, his beautiful bride, and his dad finally recognizing him as a man. In shock his friend says, “What about your worst day?” In a dead-pan tone the fi rst guy responds, “Every day since has been a tie.” Were we meant to live as if each day was a tie for our worst day?
How many of you would like to see this world set right once for all-- no more common colds, no more cancer, no more gates, locks, fighting in the Middle East? The National Enquirer would be fi lled with stories of moral beauty and selfless courage. Judge Judy would go fishing because there would be no more law-suits. There would be lawyers, but they would have real useful jobs like delivering pizza which would all be non-fattening. Talk shows would be fi lled with interviews of daughters who love their mothers and men who enjoy dressing as men. There would be playgrounds where the cemeteries used to be. The Rangers would win the pennant every year. Nobody would get sick, sad, hurt, or die. How many of you would vote for that? If that’s what you want, then you want heaven.
One friend wanted to know if there would be golf in heaven? He would reason: “I can’t be happy without golf; heaven is a place that will make me happy; therefore, there must be golf in heaven.” But in heaven there’s no lying, swearing, or cheating, so how could there be golf ? You know the place where there’s weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth? That sounds like golf to me! But seriously, we all think about what happens after this life. God says in Ecclesiastes, “I have set eternity in their heart.” There are so many things in this life we can’t choose: our family, our talents and abilities, the place we are born. Yet, God gives us the opportunity to choose where we might spend eternity. As Christ was hanging on the cross, one thief curses Him and the other chooses Him and He loved them both enough to let them.
Is your heart locked into a purely present day, this life perspective?
How will thinking about the then and there help you here and now? What if you knew at the end of the day you’d end up in heaven? Would it aff ect your relationship with God? If you knew this and it would aff ect your relationship with God, then why would it? “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3.2
