Blog

Owe Your Love

As a young adult, just heading to college, I remember some advice my dad gave me; “Don’t get a credit card. You’ll never get out of it.” I didn’t asked him much about this advice or rather, warning, but I had a feeling he knew a thing or two about this.

I wish I could say I listened. Instead I made plans with new found friends to head to Florida for Spring Break. My tax refund check didn’t come soon enough, so I filled out the easy application that magically appeared in my dorm mailbox and drove off to Florida with a piece of plastic in my pocket worth $3000.

I wish I could say I’ve never had any debt, especially from a high interest credit card, but I have. And at times, I’ve felt like I could drown from the weight of it.

But that really isn’t the worst of it. My relationship with debt was distracting me from the rich relationship I could have been having with my heavenly Father. It was keeping me strapped to a monthly payment I wanted to give away to someone in need. I was kept from loving people the way I wanted to and reflecting the generous love I’ve received from God through his gift of Jesus Christ.

Paul instructs in Romans 13:8 to, “Owe nothing to anyone – except for your obligation to love one another.” And in my pursuit to love others in this life, in the same generous and lavish way God loves me, I fulfill God’s law to love Him and love others.

Being free from owing someone something other than my love for them frees me to love them deeply, to really invest in them and not just with money, but with my time, my attention, with the eternal part of me that will give the opportunity to share the Good News of Christ. If I’m busy paying off debt or worried about matching someone’s generosity, that becomes my focus, that becomes what I think about, that becomes the biggest part of me. It is a trap, a prison, a lonely place that does not align with a free and full life that God has dreamed for me.

Are you caught up in what you owe men? Consider and pray how to be rid of this and be free to spend yourself in the lives of people, loving them out of obligation to the One who showed us what love is.

Are You Prepared for Eternity?

Are you prepared for Eternity?

That was the question posed to me for this post. Before answering it in a blog post, I had to answer it personally. In doing that, I want to rephrase the question in two parts, which I will then address individually:

1. Are you prepared for eternity?
2. Are you preparing for eternity?

Are you prepared for eternity?

The first question, "Are you prepared for eternity," is to ask, "Do you know where your soul will go when you die?"

Are you going to spend eternity separated from God because you never took the steps required to restore that relationship? Those who have not taken those steps have a severed relationship with God and unless that is fixed in this life, that relationship will remain severed for all eternity. 

How do you restore that relationship in this life? How do you prepare to spend your eternity with God in heaven instead of separated from Him? You can do so by following obediently in the steps detailed for us in the Bible, God's Holy Word.

1. Believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
   Jesus said, in John 8:24, "unless you believe that I Am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins."
2. Confess that belief. In Matthew 10:32, Jesus assures us, "Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven." Essentially, Jesus Christ will be our advocate after we die -- He will tell God the Father, "Yes, this soul restored the relationship."
3. Repent.
   In 2 Peter 3:9, we read, "He (the LORD) does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."
4. Be baptized. 
   If it weren't enough that Jesus did it (so it's good enough for me), we are also commanded to be baptized. In Acts 2:38, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The relationship with God is restored by grace -- nothing more. These are the steps we are instructed to take in order to receive that gift. It is not forced upon us so we must demonstrate our acceptance. 

I have received God's free gift of grace. I have confessed my sin, professed my belief in God and His Son, repented for my sin, and I was baptized on April 16, 1989. I can answer the first question with, "Yes. I am prepared for eternity. I am confident that my soul will live forever with my God in heaven."

What a blessed assurance. If you aren't sure of your answer to that question, please do not wait! Consider God's gift of grace and don't delay. This weekend, WRCC is having a baptism celebration -- why not follow Christ's example and be sure of your answer as well?

Are you preparing for eternity? 

The second question, as I would like to address it, refers more to how I live my life since having accepted the gift of grace. It saved me, but did it change me? 

If it changed me, then it should show in how I live my life. The book of James expands on how, once we have Christ in our life, it affects not only our eternity, but these aspects of our life on earth:

• how we handle our challenges and pain (James 1:2-12)
• how we respond to temptation (James 1:13-18; 4;7-8)
• how we respond to social injustices and need -- by putting our faith into action. (James 2:1-9; 5:1-6)
• how we speak. (James 1:19-20; 26; 3:2-12)
• how we pray. (James 4:2; 5:13-17)

It is in living out our faith as prescribed above that  we also, as instructed in Matthew 6:19-21, "lay up treasures in heaven."

Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.  Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 

If we place value on the things of God and His eternal kingdom instead of on the temporary things of this world, we will have those treasures forever. We work hard in this world to provide a home for our family, clothes, food, etc, and there is nothing wrong with that. But when you look at this lifetime relative to eternity, we are faced with how unimportant those things become. 

Imagine you are on an extended vacation and you arrive at your hotel before they have prepared your room for check-in. They take you to a temporary lounge to wait for your room. While there, you unpack, redecorate, and make yourself at home. In no time, they come to take you to your permanent room. Why did you waste so much energy on something so fleeting?

This world is a temporary. When we use our time, talents, and treasures to accumulate earthly treasures, those are temporary as well. But when we give our resources for Christ's sake, we demonstrate that we value Christ and that we consider other people worth more than our own comfort and preservation.

Another example that somewhat illustrates the concept of laying up treasure in heaven is compound interest. I started contributing to a 401k retirement account when I was only 19 years old and have rolled it from account to account ever since. Choosing to set aside a portion of my income for the future rather than spending it on something I wanted in the moment will pay off. 

Say, for example, I saved, or set aside, a mere $300 from a month's pay when I was 20 years old. At that time, it as worth only $300. (Actually less, after taxes.) I might have been able to buy a VCR  since I was 20 in 1995. Google it, kids.

But by investing it instead, even at a conservative interest rate of 5% , when I am 70 years old, that $300 would be worth $9,127.93, having been multiplied by compound interest over time. The VCR I could have bought in 1995 would be worthless by comparison. 

I see the work and sacrifices we make for Christ and to serve other people instead of accumulating things for our own creature comforts are compounded over time and when we get to heaven, we will find their value is immeasurable. 

Do you want to waste your effort sprucing up a temporary lounge or do you want to live in a mansion in heaven for all eternity? Do you want a VCR today or unfathomable treasures in glory?

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)

So, are you prepared for eternity? If not, you can fix that immediately. Confess, repent, and be baptized.

And are you preparing for eternity? If yes, keep it up! Could you do even more?

If you are not yet laying up treasures in heaven, what are you waiting for? Get connected and find a place to help and people to serve. Start investing in your eternity today.