Being Ready

One of my favorite stories is about a young Sunday school class.

The teacher walks into the room and asks, “Who wants to go to heaven?”

Every child raises his hand except for a boy named Timmy.

This surprises the teacher.

Still a bit stunned, she asks the boy, “Timmy, don’t you want to go to heaven some day?”

“Oh sure, someday!” exclaims Timmy.

“I thought you were talking about us leaving now!”

We are a great deal like Timmy.

On one hand, we say we want to go to heaven.

On the other, we just do not want to go there right now.

As Christians, our salvation is guaranteed by the blood of Jesus.

We take great comfort in that.

John 3:16-17 (NET) - For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

We do things in order to live longer.

We might decide one day to eat better.

Or, we might decide to get regular medical exams.

The list goes on and on.

Frankly, these are things we should be doing anyway.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NET) - Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

The things we do for our health will help us serve God better as we grow older.

But the truth is, only God knows exactly how much time we have on this earth.

Job 14:5-6 (NET) - Since man’s days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it. Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man.

There is no point to worrying about how much time we have left.

What is important is what we choose to do with the time given us.

Then when someone asks if we want to go to heaven, our answer can be a resounding “Yes!”

  

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, March 8, 2019.

I’ll be back here on Friday, March 15, 2019