What Now?

In my very first post on this site, I asked a question that, to this day, continues to haunt my thoughts increasingly as I pursue God’s calling in my life.  The question was simply this:

If God sat you down and told you that He was calling you Home in the next ten years, what would you be pursuing?

If you truly sit down and ponder this question, reflecting upon your own life, I firmly believe that you will find yourself in the same state of disarray as I find myself in now.  Agreed, at face value, it seems like an innocent enough thought, but I would seriously encourage you to stop and allow the Holy Spirit to speak in your life about the ramifications of such a question.  To ask this question to ourselves and Creator God, we can allow God to prune our lives in these areas:

• Our Priorities
• Our Possessions 
• Our Relationships
• Our Motives
• Our Time

So what then?  If we are to do as Moses prays in Psalm 90, and request God to “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” where is that source found?  For that, we have to turn to Philippians 2:1-11

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11 ESV)

This is our answer–the easy answer–being that we find it solely in Christ, yet we find the truth of it more difficult to live out, and rather acknowledge its power and move on with our day.  It’s like acknowledging the power of Dish Soap to remove grime off of dirty dishes, yet we never touch the soap and take advantage of its effects.  Where is the benefit in that?  I love and hate how much this passage is quoted because it is so fantastic, yet so ignored.  We’re like a bunch of teenagers at a concert who know the lyrics to the songs by heart, scream them at the top of our lungs, yet are completely ignorant to the message they are presenting.

In light of that, I ask you:

• How Did Jesus view His priorities?
• How Did Jesus view His possessions?
• How Did Jesus view His relationships?
• How Did Jesus view His motives?
• How Did Jesus view His time?

If upon reflecting on this passage we conclude that we are, in fact, to have the same mind as Jesus, we find that nearly everything we have built up in these categories comes crumbling down in dramatic fashion, and only one thing–or should I say Person–is left: Our King.  Isn’t that interesting how that works?  It’s as plain as day–pure, undefiled, holy–revealing Our true purpose for existence on this rock:

Everything We Are, Everything We Do, Everything We Seek Should Point to Jesus.

If we are to reflect Christ, living out verses 1-4 while looking to our King for the greatest example, we can answer the elements of that question:

• Our Priority is to make Christ’s name known; our priority is people (Matthew 28:18-20)
• Our Possessions are temporal because we have something much greater (Matthew 6:19-24)
• Our Relationships point to Christ, and point others to Christ (Philippians 2:1-4)
• Our Motives are to reach this dark world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in ALL things (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
• Our Time is short (Psalm 90)

We cannot deny that our time on this earth is short, and whether we as Christians are called home by God through our final breath or in His second coming, it does not matter.  Our time is short; I mean, our time is even short if we are blessed with the opportunity to live until old age.  Jesus was only on this earth for about 33 years…if I only lived to that age, that means I have only 9 years to do what God has called me to do!  Be encouraged, though…even though God doesn’t promise you another breath, each and every second on this earth is a promise that He is not done with you yet.  So what are you doing?  What am I doing?  Please don’t think I have this all figured out because my closest friends and family can easily point out to you my growth areas in this; I merely want to share with you what seems to be burdening my heart greatly.

If all of this is true (and I am certain that it is), I don’t have time to seek out financial success, being confident that God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).  I don’t have time to seek popularity for my own gain, as it does nothing for God’s Kingdom.  I don’t have time to seek my own pleasures constantly because there are many out there who have physical, emotional, mental, and–most importantly–spiritual needs.  I could sit here and go on about the things that can (and probably should) be pruned from our lives to make room for greater things, but let the Holy Spirit do that as you ask Him these questions.

To end this post, I want you to look intently at the end of Philippians 2:1-11…one day, you will stand before your Creator God.  You will not high five Him and talk with Him like one of your buds.  You will not have some nifty sit down coffee talk with Him.  In the presence of the Only Holy and Righteous God, you will bow, you will confess, and you will worship.  And what will be surrounding you?  I can assure you that it won’t be our savings, it won’t be our possessions, it won’t be some magical list of our greatest accomplishments on earth…it will be people.  People that have been influenced and moved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and the faithfulness of His followers: you.  And on that day, the very Being who knew of you before the foundations of the world, the One who not only used His breath to give you physical life but also gave up that breath to give you Spiritual life, will say these words to you:

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant…

…and it has nothing to do with what you have done, but completely and perfectly on what His Son has done through you, as He sees the reflection of His Son in your life and being.  From the beginning, it was all about Him.  In the end, it will be all about Him.  So I ask you, what do you think the “in-between,” the time in which we exist, is all about?

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. -Jim Elliot

Always and in All Ways Serving,

Noah

Christian Karma & Prostituted Grace: “A Misunderstood Message”

“Grace, Grace, God’s Grace,

Grace That Will Pardon And Cleanse Within.

Grace, Grace, God’s Grace,

Grace That Is Greater Than All Our Sin.”

–Julia H. Johnston

Have you ever felt like you owe somebody something? Have you ever been so overwhelmed by such a fantastic blessing from another person, that you felt like you had to return the favor in some way? On the other end, have you ever done something so awful that you felt the need to make up for what you had done?

Have you ever felt the unconditional love of another human being? Do you love somebody so much that, no matter what they do to you, you would give everything to bless them and be with them? Have you ever abused that love from another person, using him for your benefit and taking pride in his promised forgiveness and love?

The more I work in ministry, the more God is revealing what I am calling Polar Problems in the Church. They are stances that people take in the church—or even a lifestyle, which is what we will cover today—that pose such extraordinary threats to our advancement of the Gospel. I call them Polar Problems because:

1. There often seems to be a set of them.
2. They are so opposite from each other that you could call them polar.
3. They are a HUGE problem.

It seems pretty straight forward, right? God has been revealing these things to me, whether it is an issue in my own heart or something that I am observing in the Church around me, and I have decided to divulge with you all a Polar Problem that I feel is the most prevalent and problematic.

I love the Gospel, and I am not ashamed of it, for it is the power to bring salvation to all (Romans 1:16-17). It breaks my heart that people even in the church don’t share my same passion for the Good News, to the point that I have been asked before to tone down my Gospel-saturated talk (or a friend of mine in ministry would call it: Gospaturation). I’m sorry, but I can’t stop, and I won’t stop (thanks, Miley), and I will continue to make Christ known and Him crucified until the day my King calls me home. I don’t need lofty speech, I don’t need crazy signs or drastic stories…I just need Christ and His Good News (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). And I know that people would agree with me that what Christ did on the cross for us, being once and for all, changed the very make-up of our identity, our blueprints being reformed to the original intention and design…and it is GOOD! There is a Polar Problem, though, which I am seeing in the Church, and both sides of it are a misunderstanding of the beauty of grace found in the Gospel. The first I like to call Christian Karma, or Christian Legalism…the second, I call Prostituted Grace. So…let’s dive in!

CHRISTIAN KARMA:

To put it simply, Christian Karma is a skewed view of our sanctification. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that our salvation did not, does not, and will never come from our works, being a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-10). Salvation is not a goal to be reached, it is not an Achievement found on Xbox Live, it is not awarded at the end of our life. Salvation is HERE! The moment you repent of your sins and acknowledge Christ as Savior and Lord, salvation is yours for the taking; your destination is set and your direction is moving forward. Christian Karma, however, is not so much believing in a works-based salvation, but more so living out as if you did believe that way.

This was my problem growing up, and you often find it more in a conservative church. Though the person believes grace was freely given to him, he has this strange idea of karma in regards to his relationship with God. I have watched people live this out obnoxiously in different ways. Think about the “Marry ‘em, Bury ‘em” crowd, or the people who come to church only on Easter and Christmas out of guilt. Think of cross necklaces and tattoos that some people have that they treat as a lucky charm, virtually feeling that their acknowledgment of God will bring them success.

I have seen Christian Karma invade people’s hearts, as it did mine in the past, causing stress and pain. Despite our understanding of our imputed righteousness and the gift of salvation, we might view our relationship with God like a ladder. We want to reach the top, and this is done by going to church, serving people, reading our Bible, and so on. If we fail in any aspect, it’s like taking a step down on the ladder, so we have to counteract that with more good to climb up that ladder of love. The only problem is that we are such broken people that no matter how hard we try, we will ultimately and always perceive ourselves as plopped down at the base of the ladder. When we compare our sinful self to God’s perfection, there is no competition, and we will never reach the top of that ladder.

My friends, Christian Karma is a cancer. It eats away at our heart and distracts us from the Truth, which is exactly what the enemy wants from us. This is the most prevalent of the Polar Problem, and it is choking out the Church of all its potential. How can worthless and sinful people like us make any difference in the Kingdom of God, and how can we change people’s hearts if our own heart can’t seem to do the right thing? And so the vicious cycle continues as we who live out this skewed understanding of grace “swirl around the drain” until we are completely spent.

PROSTITUTED GRACE:

I feel like this view is most commonly found in young people, and I am seeing it more in the Modern/New Age Church. Prostituted Grace essentially is when we have the desire to live our own lives, yet reap the benefits of Christ’s grace as well. This is seen in those times where we are so heavily tempted to sin, that we think to ourselves, “Oh, God will forgive me, and He already has by sending Jesus to die on the cross, so I’m ok!” True theology, horrible misunderstanding. The other way it affects us is by creating this duo-identity where we almost take pride in our sinful nature because it shows our need for Christ.

We live in a pluralistic, hedonistic society that says “What is right for you, might not be right for me, and that’s ok.” I could spend hours sharing my views on this, firstly because I am passionately against this view, but also because this is the culture God has placed me in to serve His people, so it intrigues me. Back to Prostituted Grace, though…I believe that the World is invading the mindset of our young people. God’s people seem to ride the Struggle Bus when it comes to repeating history, and the Bible has shown plenty of times how dangerous it is to mix things of the world with things of God. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work. Yet we see it all the time!

The danger is that Prostituted Grace creates what I would call a “double-creature,” which is impossible! The Bible says that when we are in Christ, we are a new creature! The old is gone, and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is no holding onto our former life, no matter how hard it might hurt! Salvation is not like a free pair of sunglasses passed out at a concert; people can’t just walk up, take it, and move on with their lives. It is a complete change of your identity, your direction, your goals, your passions, your EVERYTHING! And when you make that decision, there is no turning back…you have to pick between pie and cake, paper or plastic, God or the world. Though it is directed toward the love of money, I believe the principle is still applicable to our lives in Matthew 6:24; you can only serve one master.

I have heard people go to the extreme of saying things like, “Oh yes! I am gay, and I’m a Christian.” Or “I am an alcoholic, and a Christian.” And so on…am I saying that these are not real issues in our world? By no means! But if we truly are Christians, we cannot identify ourselves with anything but Christ. The thing I want you to understand is that there is a beautiful difference between struggling with a sin, and embracing a sin. The first understands that Christ has given us grace and strength to conquer that sin, and though it may be hard, it is worth the fight. The other looks at sin, sees its appeal, and might as well say, “I am both a sheep and a goat! Try to separate me now, Lord!”

Contrary to popular belief, God does not take the sins of His children lightly. He does not look down and say, “Oh boys will be boys.” No! It breaks His heart, and the Bible says that He WILL discipline those He loves (Hebrews 12:6-11). If you are taking pride in your sin, viewing God’s grace merely as a cover-up for the things you are doing, I would encourage you to drop to your knees and turn to the One who has the power to transform all people to the image of His Son. Grace was given to change our identity, not give us a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

CONCLUSION:

To any of my friends who are struggling with Christian Karma, I want you to know that you’re wasting your time. You are trying to climb up the ladder of your life and relationship with God, but He has already picked you up and set you on the top. He’s crazy about you! There is nothing in this world that can separate you from His love, nothing can make Him love you less, and nothing that could stop Him from giving up His one and only Son as a payment for your adoption (Romans 8). You are loved, you are valued, you are saved. Now live in the presence of God with confidence in your identity, thankfulness in His gift of grace, and determination to grow in your walk with Him!

To any of my friends who are struggling with Prostituted Grace, I want to say POOP OR GET OFF THE POT! When Jesus looked at the adulterous woman, after nobody could condemn her, He told her to go and sin no more (John 8:1-11). Are we perfect? Goodness, no! But we forget what was behind us, and press on for the upward call which Christ has called us onward (Philippians 3). It is SO hard, yet so worth it; so painful, yet so freeing.

The true beauty of God’s grace is that while we were sitting in our own darkness and turmoil, a bloody and beaten man dragging a cross approached us, offering His hand and saying, “Follow me.” What Jesus did for us on the cross, by grace, frees us from the righteous wrath of God and our deserved punishment. It gives us life, and life to its fullest. It fills us with hope where once stood the dread of a lost and fading generation. But this freedom also comes with a cross. It comes with pain. It comes with struggle. It comes with self-denial. Most importantly, though, it comes with a loving whisper that says, “You are not alone, and you are free indeed.”

 

“Let us remember: when we talk of the rending of the veil we are speaking in a figure, and the thought of it is poetical, almost pleasant; but in actuality there is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience that veil is made of living spiritual tissue; it is composed of the sentient, quivering stuff of which our whole beings consist, and to touch it is to touch us where we feel pain. To tearit away is to injure us, to hurt us and make us bleed. To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross and death no death at all. It is never fun to die. To rip through the dear and tender stuff of which life is made can never be anything but deeply painful. Yet that is what the cross did to Jesus and it is what the cross would do to every man to set him free…The cross is rough, and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the Presence of the living God.”–Tozer, “The Pursuit of God”

Is It For Here, Or To Go?

     There once was a man who decided it would be a fantastic idea to throw a feast for all of the people in his town.  Calling upon his servants, he prepared a meal that could not be contended with by any other, and then sent them out to proclaim the universal invitation to the people.  Many came, and upon tasting the sweet delicacies the man had prepared and partaking in the festivities that followed, it could be concluded there was nothing like this extraordinary party.  At least…that is how the master of the house felt, and soon as the party prematurely began to wane, his heart grew heavy with the open denial of the people.  For you see, many got up from their seats, speaking of meals eaten before, feeling too ashamed of what they held onto and removed themselves of such an extravagant event.  Others were lost in the maybe’s and what if’s, and left to seek out the possibility of a greater party.  And lastly, there were those who had tasted the feast, acknowledged its magnificence, yet concluded that their preferences were elsewhere, and thus proceeded to flee out to the desert, shoveling sand in their mouths as they shamefully grumbled, “Satisfy me!  Satisfy me!  Satisfy me!”

Life and time are both very precious things.  We are not promised a moment on this earth, and yet we spend it oftentimes as if we have all of the time in the world.  As a cancer survivor, God has used a very difficult time in my life to reveal to me the preciousness of every moment.  We are not promised some romantic/emotional ending to our time here on Earth, with loved ones weeping at our bedside as we express some profound wisdom to echo in eternity.  To be blunt, I had a friend take his life with his father’s gun when he was nine.  In high school, three of my friends and classmates lost a parent.  An old classmate of mine just recently died of a heroine overdose.  I could sit here and list off many other people I personally knew who “died too early,” and I know for a fact that you have plenty to share, yourself.  This is why I believe Moses, in Psalm 90, cries out to God to “teach us to number our days, that we might grow a heart of wisdom (v. 12).”  In his book, “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis makes an interesting point.  As the demon, Screwtape, writes his nephew in regards to humanity and time, he says this:

The humans live in time but our Enemy destined them to eternity.  He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present.  For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.

He then goes on to talk about two ways of distraction for an individual in regards to time.  Firstly, he ponders the possibility of making somebody dwell on the past, but then concludes that they should not chiefly focus on that because it has the potential to teach the person and help them grow from past experiences.  They finally conclude that focusing on the future is the best option because it holds no value essentially to anything.  The difference between having an eternal mindset and one that is set on the future is that thinking eternally is thinking about God.  If I have an eternal mindset, my life’s aims today are faced with the intent of how they will affect my eternity with my King.  Thinking merely on the future, while losing sight on the present deals with what-if’s and maybe’s.  In the end of the passage, Screwtape proclaims:

We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present.

That last line has hit me heavy for a while now, and to this day I cannot help but stop often and ask myself if I am using today’s blessings to heap up an offering to the altar of the future, thus missing out on what God has for me now.  Three things you need to understand in regards to time:

1. The Past is Over: No matter how much you would love for this to be a possibility, the past cannot be changed.  What’s done is done–or like the beloved David Bowie says in Labyrinth, “What’s said, is said.”  You cannot undo the hurt you have caused on others or yourself, but here is the beautiful part.  Because of Christ’s redemptive act of selfless love and fulfilled justice on the cross, your past holds no ground, and you have a new foundation and cornerstone found in Him (Mat. 21:42).  The beauty of God’s adopting us, as mentioned in Romans 8, is that God knows our ugly past, yet still says, “I want him, and I want her.”  And the payment for your adoption came with the murder of His beloved Son on a cross, and now you have a new name, a new inheritance, and a new future!  So take your past, and use it to grow as you cry out to your Abba!
2. Your Future Doesn‘t Exist: Well…at least for you.  In God’s eternity (separateness of time), it does, but we are finite and created beings bound BY time FOR the time being (see what I did there?).  We often sit and ponder what is to happen in our future…will I ever find true love?  What do I want to do when I’m older?  I want _______.  I’m working toward my retirement.  There are two things that are dangerous with this.  Firstly, it’s selfish, and secondly, it’s not for sure.  You could spend your whole life pursuing one thing, only to find that your end is completely different than you anticipated.  I had no intentions of having cancer…I wasn’t planning on going to Liberty for college…I wasn’t expecting to return home after college.  We can even tread on dangerous water if we focus our time now wondering what we are going to do for God later.  You see, it’s masked with good intentions, but that time is still being wasted!  There is a solution to this, and that’s where we are headed…but finally:
3. You’re Only Promised Now: Just Like Lewis commented in the above passage, the Present is vitally important for us because it is the only time we have an opportunity to act.  It is in the Present when God, in His glorious eternity and infinite, touches our lives.  Take this encouragement: Every breath, every second, every moment you are here on this Earth is a promise from God that He is not done with you yet!  So here’s my question to you:

What Are You Doing Now With That Time?

I’m as serious as a heart attack right now.  If you are not promised another second, what are you doing right now to live your life to its fullest?  The way the Holy Spirit has convicted me of it as of recently is by this question: If God sat you down and told you that He was calling you Home in the next ten years, what would you be pursuing?  I think that this question honestly has the potential to reveal our passions, our callings, or–more fearfully–what our gods are.  What are you putting your time into?  What am I?  Because, like Robin Williams mentions in The Dead Poets Society, we are food for worms.  If you haven’t seen that movie, you should!  It’s thought-provoking and entertaining, but one of the most famous messages presented in the film regards time.  Robin Williams takes his class to a photo of previous graduates who are long dead, and challenges them to make the most of today, proclaiming “Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)!”  The one thing I found lacking in that scene is that it does not look to a Savior or eternity.  You see, we have an eternity, though being created beings, our time’s expiration on Earth does conclude with our expiration of existence.  Therefore, what we do in life on Earth affects our eternity.  In a presentation done by ACSI’s president, Dr. Dan Egeler, he challenged Christians to rather “Carpe Aeternitatem (Seize Eternity).”  So here’s the crux of my message:

The Gospel Does Not Just Secure Your Eternity…It Gives You True Life NOW!!!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10 ESV).”  And yet, much like the master with the feast, God has given us true life to live now, and instead we have run out to the desert, shoveling sand in our mouths gasping, “Satisfy me!  Satisfy me!  Satisfy me!”  This is the group from my analogy that breaks my heart the most, yet it is also the group that I relate to most.  Read what God has to say about Israel in Jeremiah 2:12-13…

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord,

 for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

     God did so many miraculous things for His people; saved them from Egypt, parted the Red Sea for them, guided them by pillars of fire and dust, provided for them in the desert wanderings.  Yet despite all of the things He poured into them, they still turned around and looked back to Egypt.  They still turned from God, and it broke His heart….

     …..But you and I are not much different.  Here He has lavished His love on us, not that we first loved Him, but He loved us and sent His Son to die for us (I John 4:10).  But what do we do?  Where do we put our stock and time?  Relationships?  Work?  Money?  Provisions?  Church?  Media?  We have tasted the feast, and yet more often than not, we look back to our Egypt.  We leave the feast in favor of the desert.  My friends, this cannot be our end.  So here’s my final question:

Is It For Here?  Or To Go?

Just like the cashier consistently asks us when we order our beloved fast food.  Is your life for here (Earth)?  Or is it to Go (Eternity).  It’s Carpe Aeternitatem! What are you doing now to affect your eternity?  Matthew 6:19-24 lays it out pretty clearly, calling us to not lay up treasures here on Earth, and saying that we can only have one Master…one priority…one end.  I love Paul, and I love his passion for the Gospel in Philippians, and in chapter 3 he is challenged with his authority to teach (the boasting in the flesh).  He then goes on a long list of why he has reason to boast in his earthly authority, but then what is his conclusion?

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ…(vv. 7-9)”

That was the level of his resolve.  Anything deemed of high value on this Earth, he counted as rubbish compared to Christ.  And guess what, he wrote all of this while he was locked up in prison!  His mindset was eternity-bound, saying “for me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21).”  In other words, “I’m going to keep preaching the Gospel until my time here on Earth is done, and when I die, I win!  You’ve got nothing on me, world!”  Is that the mindset we have?  Are we so consumed with God and what Jesus has done, that EVERYTHING in this world seems small?  I’m not just talking about the problems in this world, but also the good things.  Is it for here?  Or to go?  And Paul doesn’t say he’s perfect!  By no means…but what is the catch? “…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (vv. 13b-14).”  We may not be perfect yet, but it doesn’t mean we can’t strive for perfection; in fact, we are called to pursue it!  But that righteousness is not our own; it comes from Jesus Christ.  Forget what is behind, and press on!  Keep Moving Forward!  Live today as if you are preparing for eternity, and if you stumble, pick yourself up and PRESS ON!

Paul concludes the passage in Philippians 3 in a heart-breaking way, saying:

“For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself (vv. 18-21)

There are many desert-dwellers in our world, and what hurts the most is that they are amongst our church family…what may hurt even more is that it may be you.  But listen, if you are in Christ and abiding in Him, your citizenship is not here.  You are occupants of Earth, but citizens of Heaven!  Take encouragement from that!  But as a conclusion, I would like you to ask yourself two things, things that I ask myself often!

1. Am I A Desert Dweller, or a Citizen of Heaven?
2. What am I doing NOW in light of eternity.

Are You For Here?  Or To Go?

Pursue God.  Love All.  Keep Moving Forward.

Always and in All Ways Serving,

Noah