|
When grief overtakes us, the smattering
of wise sayings and psychological truisms most of us have picked up
here and there are rarely enough to sustain our souls. Surely it is
not so much good advice that we need as a living relationship with
the Lord Jesus, who is Lord of this world and the next.
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrew
Christians asks a question that virtually every man and woman who
has ever lived has asked at one time or another: What is man that
you are mindful of him, and the son of man that You should care for
him (Hebrews 2:5)? The remarkable answer is that we are God’s
highest creation, and His crowning achievement. He has made us only
a little lower than the angels, and capable of achieving
extraordinary exploits.
The fact that He is mindful of us
means that He is always thinking about what He can do to help and
care for us. He wants to share the riches of His presence, and the
purposes of His Kingdom with us.1
If ninety-nine per cent of our life
lies ahead of us in eternity, surely our time on Earth is essential
preparation for this? It takes courage to make the first
all-important step to open our hearts to the Lord, and to embark on
this relationship, but also many repeated choices and decisions
whenever we are tempted to turn back and trust in our own resources.
If failing to attend to our financial
matters can make life difficult for survivors, how much more
important is it for us to consider the fate of our eternal soul? The
teaching of Scripture is clear: Heaven is reserved for those who
consciously respond to God’s generous offer of eternal life through
Jesus Christ, and who seek to make Him Lord of their lives.
If we have been mentally putting off
any thought of getting right with God until our final hours, we are
forgetting that there is no guarantee that we will be in any mental
or physical condition at that most intense of times to make such a
choice coherently. God has not placed us here on Earth to scrape a
pass into Heaven at the last minute – He wants us to live each day
in vital union with Himself.2
We are not used to considering such
things however. Whereas life after death was a major preoccupation
in previous generations, ours is more concerned with finding meaning
and direction, relationships that satisfy and overcoming boredom at
all costs. This is precisely what Jesus offers. At the same time He
promises that those who receive His saving grace in this life will
have resurrected bodies in the next, and will no longer be confined
to their present physical and spiritual limitations.
If no one has explained to you what
it means to open your heart to His love in this way – or fear and
grief have held you back from embarking on such a relationship, may
I urge you to invite Christ into your heart? Don’t let your present
pain or confusion keep you from the Lord who wants to share His
Heaven with you!
|
