What Will Last Forever?
Everything seems so fragile these days. News gets old in
seconds, emails in hours, movies in days, electronic gadgets in
weeks, cars in months, and buildings in years. Nothing seems enduring
in our world. We live more and more in a world that is temporary.
From the delete button on the email screen to the trash can on our
digital cameras?everything seems to be short lived. All around us we
see decay, even on the cosmic level everything is headed toward what
physicists call ‘heat death’.
WHAT LASTS FOREVER?
When we get to the end of everything--what is left? In other
words, what will last forever? The Bible ends with the book called
Revelation. The last chapter is Revelation 22, and that last chapter
ends with only three things left in eternity that really matter: God,
Heaven and one more element?servants serving God.
Have you paused to notice who are those surrounding God’s
Throne? Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but
the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants
shall serve Him. NKJV Servants are those who choose to discipline
themselves to serve God. All that lasts are God and those who
serve Him; that is what God’s Word is all about. If we are to someday
spend eternity serving God, how are we doing at disciplining
ourselves to be His good, faithful, and godly servants? That is the
question answered in these pages. May we all seek and receive His
“well done” when Christ examines and measures our lives.
Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will
declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the
fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is
?1 Corinthians 3:13
We are not our own. As a redeemed child of God we have a
life to live that ends with a personal examination by the One we
love, the One who bought us, and the only One who really matters?
Jesus Christ our Lord. How we’ve used our time on Earth will one
day be tested by fire?the fire of Christ’s presence that will burn away
everything we did which wasn’t pleasing to Him.
How can we live in a way that truly pleases the Lord? Is it something
we have to guess about or wonder whether we are doing what
He desires?
The description of what lasts and pleases Him is in God’s Word. To
glorify Christ to the maximum by how we live takes choosing to stay
in step with His plan. That plan, His Word, is intended by God to fill
our lives. Hence, a Word filled life won’t be burned up, which is the
only way to not waste the life He has given each of us to use for His
glory. If I could describe the best life possible?a life of peace, serenity,
security, and joy?it would be the Word filled life!
A Word Filled
Life Is the Only
Way to Not
Waste Your Life
Discipline Yourself For Godliness
God’s Word contains clear guidelines for how to have an exciting
lifetime filled with confidence, purpose, direction, and hope. The
Scriptures instruct us on how to have a joyous Word filled marriage
and the most harmonious and loving family possible?a Word filled
family! And a Word filled work life can be the most satisfying, purposeful,
and rewarding employment for an entire lifetime!
God wants to greatly bless us through the Word filled life and into
senior citizenship! Then, as we face that appointment with Christ to
show what we have done with our lives (2 Corinthians 5:10), we can
enter His presence with joy?thrilled to be with the One who loved
us, and whom we love supremely.
No matter who you are or where you are in life, your age or what
your past might be, God has described His perfect plan for you in the
Scriptures. The Lord of heaven and earth has much to say about the
optimal operating range we should live within, and has instilled in
each of us every needed option to operate and fulfill His plans.
We find the details on how to do all those things in God’s Word.
If you want to live life the way God says it should be?the best life
possible?live a Word filled life!
In the New Testament, Christ’s recorded words during His ministry
on earth are highlighted in what we call a “red letter edition” Bible.
To me, it is astounding to read these first words Jesus said after He
was introduced publicly at His baptism:
… “It is written, ‘Man shall not live [exist, continue, go on] by
bread alone [eating our physical food], but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God’ ” (Matthew 4:4).
In other words, Jesus was saying, “It is not enough just to eat and
exist and have physical life. If you want to have a full and abundant
life in your youth, marriage, family, work, and senior years, as I
designed it to be, you must allow My every Word to fill your life!”