Preparing for the Future

The Last few days, I insisted my family take a break. We’d been running ragged, and so we had a day of rest, followed by an impromptu (sort of) Family trip. What we ended up doing was preparing for our Summer Vacation, by scouting the campsites we wanted, and ending up in Bass Pro to make sure we had the camping gear we needed to make it happen. We don’t have everything we need for our trip yet (we’re looking at updating our cooking gear), but we’re well on our way! Our trip is not going to be as elaborate as we’ve taken in the past, but a week out in nature with the family is going to be a good thing!

In the same way, it got me thinking: how often do we prepare for eternity? Do we live like we’re on our way to see Jesus? All too often, I think we can get stuck on the here and now: we have mouths to feed, bills to pay, and the will of God seems like it might interfere with the direction I want to take my life in. But, we are not promised one more moment than the one we have right now! Shouldn’t we be preparing for eternity? And no, I don’t mean being in a bunker and watching the world burn while I prepare to go to the Lord; I want to prepare like Paul: “For me to live is Christ and die is gain!” If I am to be here, I am doing all I can to live like Jesus and prepare people for His coming, and if I go, I go to be with Him! This world has no lasting satisfaction; we’re only truly satisfied as we find our hope in Christ!

God’s justice is coming, and with that justice comes His wrath. God gives us a way of escape: Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, He was buried and rose on the 3^rd Day, and he did this to resolve our sin debt to God which ends in our eternal removal from His presence. We are saved when we follow Him and our born again! So, I ask you: Are you prepared for the future? There is no time like the presence to get there!John 5:19-47

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.  5687

 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”