READY TO GO?

… we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8

   I was a new Christian in Junior High School attending a meeting for young people. The speaker asked, “Who wants to go to heaven?” Every hand went up. Then he asked, “Who wants to go now?” Fewer hands went up, including mine. At that point I had had little Bible teaching. Things have changed since then after many years of good Bible teaching, and I have had many decades of looking forward to going. It is not because I am an old man and I have had enough of this world. It is because I have come to understand that, as the old song says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through,” and that the pleasures that this life offers are nothing compared to what heaven will offer.

   I appreciate, though, the days that the Lord continues to give me, as there are many joys. But those tests, trials, and sorrows continue to add up, and it is not hard to see how the world and our own culture have deteriorated. Yet every day is an opportunity and challenge to live for Jesus and earn some gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We cannot earn our salvation, but we can earn rewards for eternity, and that will be worth the struggle. Along the way I have even had the awesome privilege to witness people pray and put their trust in Jesus, then demonstrate it by a changed life.

  Go now?  Whenever you say, Lord, I’m ready.  How about you?

Jeffrey Eno