A sure thing?

When the NFL play-offs started, the guys in the box were talking about the destiny of the Patriots, about Brady's mystique in winning post-season games. Despite a disappointing season, as it looked like NE was ' a sure thing' until they met the Broncos in Mile High Stadium a week ago. With that loss, the Pats dropped off the radar. (For all you Steeler fans, I've got to admit that they looked great yesterday against those same Broncos. What an offense!) Life is full of 'sure things' that don't turn out to be so sure, isn't it? Enron was a the company of the future, a sure place to put your money, in 2001. Today, the stock certificates are worthless, except as souvenirs! Remember the Democratic primary a couple of years ago? Howard Dean looked like the sure thing to take the nomination until the wheels fell off his campaign bus in Iowa! Who can forget the 'Dean scream' that filled the news for 24 hours in January, 2004?

Sports, politics, investments... there are no sure things, no inevitable results. Ben Franklin advised that there were only two things in this life we can count on; death and taxes! True enough. Had he read what God promises about one of those certainties? The Bible says, "Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences." Grim news? Could be, but there is an additional promise attached to that line: "Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation." (Hebrews 9:27-28, The Message)

Barbara Walters spoke with Ted Haggard, Pastor of New Life Church and President of the National Association of Evangelicals, on a special aired recently called, "Heaven." She pressed him about whether a person had to be a Christian to go to Heaven. I loved his response. "If you want a sure reservation; if you want to know that you know, then the way is Christ!" She tried to get him to say that adherents of other religions were not going to be in heaven, but he stuck with that declaration. Do you want to know that you know that you will spend Eternity with God? Then, trust Christ, love Him, and begin to live eternally - NOW! It's the one sure thing in a world marked by uncertainties.

The hope of Heaven is not just 'pie in the sky, by and by,' nor it is an escapist fantasy for dealing with life's disappointment. Having Heaven as our eternal home will powerfully effect the way we live right now. John says, "Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure." (1 John 3:2-3, NLT)

Thank God for the sure thing of your home in Heaven, through Christ Jesus. Let that promise soak into your mind and heart, changing your perspective on life today. And, live through the disappointments of life, steady in faith, full of hope, and consequently - filled with the character and courage of Jesus Christ who because He "never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God— could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God." (Hebrews 12:2, The Message)
___________________

"Father God, I am looking over the week that lies ahead,
planning, scheduling.
Fix in my mind and my heart that promise of Heaven.
Help me to live, today, as a citizen of your forever Kingdom!
Keep me from pettiness, from short-sighted choices that are not worthy of your high calling.

When the disappointments of a uncertain world threaten to make me depressed,
or to turn me into a cynic, let me see Heaven that waits.

Jesus, let us keep company with You today,
so that when our appointment with You comes, be it sooner or later,
we can walk confidently from time into eternity.

Amen."