If you’ve made the decision to put your faith in Jesus as the only way to heaven, then the fact that the world is approaching its final curtain call doesn’t have to be scary. All the ugly in the world shouldn’t make you throw your hands in the air and just give up. No need for the “can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach, but certainly no need to run and hide.
One of the most amazing things about the fact that God created you as an individual is that he made you exactly who you are at exactly the time in which you should be living. The fact that we’re alive in the midst of all of the turmoil in the world today means something. The fact that we’ve been chosen by Jesus to know the truth gives a purpose far beyond “live life and die”. The moments we spend on earth are just a tiny piece of what our entire existence will be, so our moments on earth should be spent preparing us for our moments in eternity.
As a mother, I try to notice “teachable moments” with my kids. I know that the lessons they learn while under my roof are preparing them for the future in the real world. I think a lot about what kind of person I want them to be and how the opportunities I have to teach them will impact that. So much of what I try to teach them has a whole lot more to do with their future then it does with the moment. If it was only all about their childhood… only about the here and now… then how they act and what choices they make wouldn’t matter all that much. I’d be much more likely to just let them do whatever makes them feel good – which could sometimes be a scary thing.
In much the same way, the choices we make as we walk this earth are about who we are becoming. About who we will be when we finally stand in the presence of our Savior. Will we look back on our life and see all that we accomplished for ourselves? About how much personal success we had, or how many things we accumulated? Jesus isn’t interested in our resume or the stuff in our storage unit. We don’t want to look him in the eyes and proclaim, “I figured out life on earth just fine, but I’m not sure how to do this eternity thing.” We want to be able to say, “I had a lot of practice praising God and serving others, I’m ready to apply it here with you!”
The moment we decide to follow Jesus is the moment we begin the process of becoming Christlike. It’s a process, and obviously one we won’t finish on this side of heaven. But we should be getting closer and closer to who He is with every waking moment. We should be able to ask ourselves, “What part of who I was today resembled who Jesus is?” And we should see more and more of his attributes in ourself with every passing day.
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand…Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. (Colossians 3:1, 10 NLT)
