Saturday Song: Badfinger, "It's Over"

I'm certain that any child would say that summer holidays are the best. For two whole months, there's no getting up early and going to school. Families usually plan their vacations for July or August since their children are out of school. And judging from all of the folks I know, the summer is when great family memories are made.

The British band, Badfinger, recorded a song about returning home. It resonates with me since I was sent to a residential school for blind and deaf children for six lonely years. Leaving that sterile institution for the freedom of summer vacation each June meant so much to me.

Hear Badfinger's song here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mezhl2erFbc

A day will come when our enforced stay on this planet will be over. For many of us, our exit will be through the door of death. And unlike the folks who aren't believers in Christ, we don't fear it. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21 (BBE) that, "For to me life is Christ and death is profit."

Neither was Peter afraid of death. He wrote in 2 Peter 1:14 (BBE), regarding his decease, "For I am conscious that in a short time I will have to put off this tent of flesh, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me." He referred to what Christ told him after he rose from the dead.

But there are some of us who will be privileged to see Christ return in our own lifetime. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17  (BBE), "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are still living at the coming of the Lord, will not go before those who are sleeping. Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a word of authority, with the voice of the chief angel, with the sound of a horn: and the dead in Christ will come to life first; Then we who are still living will be taken up together with them into the clouds to see the Lord in the air: and so will we be for ever with the Lord."

Either way, we are assured of paradise. As Jesus told his disciples in John 14:2 (BBE), "In my Father's house are rooms enough; if it was not so, would I have said that I am going to make ready a place for you?
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How wonderful then that we are headed for such a blissful rest. Life can be hard but we will receive our reward when we go to our eternal home.

On Monday, I'll tackle the subject of a startling fact I learned from an American preacher currently living in Zambia.

This also sounds like a silly question. What has God given us? In a word: everything.

This planet we live on is perfectly adapted for us to live on. As Genesis 1:29-31 (BBE) says, "And God said, 'See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food: And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food:' and it was so. And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

God also gave us sex. Genesis 2:18 (BBE) reads, "And the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be by himself: I will make one like himself as a help to him
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But sex for sex's sake isn't what we were created for. Psalms 127:3 (BBE) explains, "See, sons are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the body is his reward."

Children are given to us to raise to be good and God-respecting adults. As Ephesians 6:4 )BBE) says, "And, you fathers, do not make your children angry: but give them training in the teaching and fear of the Lord."

But we believers aren't without future hope but have heaven to look forward too. Jesus promised in John 14:2 (BBE) that, "In my Father's house are rooms enough; if it was not so, would I have said that I am going to make ready a place for you?"

We know that Christ died to pay our sin debt. What a relief that we don't have to spend eternity in hell. And when Christ returns, we'll spend forever with him. As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 (BBE), "Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a word of authority, with the voice of the chief angel, with the sound of a horn: and the dead in Christ will come to life first; Then we who are still living will be taken up together with them into the clouds to see the Lord in the air: and so will we be for ever with the Lord."

What a shame that we Christians don't ponder just how blessed we are. Everything we have and are comes from God, even our salvation. I'll be writing more on this in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? We tend to forget the great privilege we have as adopted children in Christ's family. Many churches also fail to teach these wonderful facts. May the Lord help people believe through what I've written.

On Thursday, I'll post about how Christianity is unique. It's based on love, not fear and hate.