WHAT REALLY MATTERS (Part 2)
Psalm 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. John 10:9-11 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
[10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11] I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
How long do you plan to live? Seventy Years, eighty years, or maybe even a hundred? Well, your soul will live forever, so the correct answer to the question is—An Eternity! Even if your earthly life turned out to be a thousand years long, it would still be a blink of an eye compared to the eternal life that stretches out after we are gone from here. This life on earth is just a first step, a baby step, in your eternal life. Please look closely at our text, David tells us our days are vanity and are like a shadow that passeth away. We are here and then we are gone! This is the reason the Lord burdened my heart about this thought; to change the way we think and to have the right kind of perspective about our present world. Paul told the church in (Colossians 3:2) to “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
We see in our text, that the thief (satan) wants to steal, kill and destroy us and our families. The devil wants to kill the work of God in our lives, the church, the ministry and every little bit of joy and happiness we have while we serve the Lord. We also see that Jesus, our GOOD Shepherd, the DOOR of our Salvation, has come to give us an ABUNDANT LIFE IN HIM! Hallelujah! How do we live there? How do we focus on WHAT REALLY MATTERS, and live an ABUNDANT and ABOUNDING life IN CHRIST? Here, we see the challenge and delicate balance of being SOLD OUT and being ALL IN for Christ, and yet living and breathing in this wicked world.
When you were saved, the Lord did not immediately take you to heaven, HE left you here. However, although you are here, your true home is heaven. Since we were left here after we came through the DOOR (Jesus) and got born again, it is our responsibility to make our lives count! If we are going to make our time here count and REALLY MATTER for Jesus, we can NOT count too much on the things of this earth. Dear friend, I challenge you to keep an eternal perspective. I know, many of us deal with everyday life; our cars break down, there is still a mortgage payment, and then dealing with deadlines and people who are difficult. I think about these things and it all seems mundane, because ETERNITY is so much more important. With my physical senses, I can NOT see or smell heaven, yet my actions and my life MUST bear witness to the fact that ETERNITY is MORE REAL than the life that I now live. It may help you to remember, that eternity is now! Your eternal life and your soul is not something that begins when you die. It’s my prayer, that you start living today and the rest of your life in the light of Heaven. Live today to its fullest in preparation for the place you are headed—HOME!!!
Bro Lawrence Longworth Isaiah 61:1 “the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
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