afterlife

controversial conversations

Posted on by Grace Day

A friend posed a question today that made me think. Those are the best kind of questions after all, the ones that don’t have an easy answer, the ones that require some thought on my part. So, this question was a “how do you know?” question. More specifically, it was “how do I know if I’ll go to or get into heaven?” My friend was saying that we can’t know until we face God on the judgement day what our eternal fate will be because we don’t know what God is going to say or to decide at that time. However, I found myself disagreeing with this premise. I do know my outcome. I do know how the conversation will go down for me on judgement day.

Which is an odd thing for me to say, because as I write this, I couldn’t tell you what I’m having for dinner tonight or anything else about how things will go for me for the rest of this day. I can’t predict what the weather will be, let alone any of the myriad things that could happen between now and say tomorrow. It’s not that I don’t have plans. It’s just that my plans constantly get interrupted or changed. People cancel on me or someone calls unexpectedly with an invitation. I feel fine, then I suddenly feel ill. My car breaks down. (I never plan for this to happen, my car does this all on its own, never giving me the courtesy of a heads up before it happens, so I can plan around the breakdown, the malfunction or whatever it is that leaves me without transportation)

So, if I can’t see even twenty-four hours into my earthly future, how can I be so sure about my eternal future? Maybe it’s because with my earthly future I see “through a glass darkly” but with my heavenly future, I am told “then I will see face to face.” But I think it’s more than that. I can be certain about my heavenly, eternal future because I am certain about the One to whom I have entrusted that future. I just admitted that I don’t know what’s going to happen in my life from one minute to the next, from one day to the next, let alone from year to year. I just don’t have that power of prediction. BUT – I have entrusted my life to Someone who does know these things, actually to Someone who knows ALL things, to Someone who is sovereign over ALL things. I have committed my life, both currently and in the future, to Someone I can trust – my Heavenly Father, God. These words from Isaiah affirm for me the wisdom of my decision –

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. . . . What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.’ ” (Isaiah 46:9-11)

Nothing takes God by surprise. He alone knows “the end from the beginning.” I can trust God because, as I read in Numbers –

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19)

God doesn’t lie, which is good to know since I have some very specific promises from Him that I am counting on Him to keep. I am told –

“If I confess my sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive me my sins and purify me from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

These words give me hope as does this truth about God –

“if we are faithless, He (God) will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

I am really glad to know that no matter how many times I let God down, how many times I am faithless, God will remain faithful and true to all His promises. God will not let me down! I find great comfort, encouragement and hope in knowing I can count on my Heavenly Father’s faithfulness to me. He does not give up on me. I have this promise from His word which is true –

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

The reason I could say with confidence to my friend, “Yes, I do know what God will decide about my eternal future when I die.” is because I am not depending on myself for the outcome. I am depending on God. And God can be trusted! He keeps His promises. His promises are true!

If my eternal future depended on me, it would be most uncertain. BUT – because I have chosen to trust God with my future, it is certain. I can know the outcome! Paul too, had the assurance of his eternal outcome and shared the reason why in his letter to Timothy, where Paul stated –

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)

Interesting statement, right? Paul said nothing about himself or about his abilities to bring about a preferred outcome. Paul said it was “whom he had believed” aka Jesus Christ, who was holding his eternal future safe and secure, and that he, Paul, was convinced that Jesus alone “is able to guard what he had entrusted” – (what Paul had entrusted to God was himself, his very life) “for that day” – meaning his final judgement day.

This statement is even more surprising given that Paul was persecuted for his faith in Jesus, endured many hardships and was often put in prison for preaching the gospel. Paul’s earthly future was always uncertain. He would make plans to visit a church somewhere such as Corinth or Ephesus or even Rome, but before Paul had the chance to carry out his plans, he would be arrested and put in prison, leaving him unable to do what he had originally planned.

Paul didn’t have any confidence in his own ability to guarantee a certain outcome, BUT – Paul had every confidence in God’s ability to guarantee a certain outcome. Today the answer to my friend’s question is that I do know my eternal destiny. I don’t have to wait to find out what will happen to me. God’s word has already made it clear. I can say along with the apostle Paul –

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)

I may not be prepared, but my Heavenly Father is preparing me and will complete His good work in me in His perfect timing. He will even provide my wardrobe!

“For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, . . . I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.” (Isaiah 61:10)

I have confidence in my destiny because it doesn’t depend on me, it depends on God and God is dependable! God is faithful. I can trust Him today with my life. I can trust Him tomorrow. I can trust Him forever with my eternity.

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 4:18)

sincerely, Grace Day

what do I pray for?

Posted on by Grace Day

I’m sitting in an unfamiliar classroom today. Actually, for the last few days now if truth be told. Why is this noteworthy? Because I’ve worked as a substitute teacher in this large high school every day of this school year and pretty much every day for the past couple of school years – ever since reopening after covid, actually. So I’ve been in just about every classroom there is, including orchestra, gym, life skills, science, math, English, Spanish, art, history – if it’s a class, I’ve probably subbed for it at one time or another.

So why would this classroom be the exception? Well, I’m currently subbing for an exceptional teacher who has been here for years and almost never misses a day of school. (hence no need for a sub in this room until now) This math teacher has faithfully fulfilled his duties year after year and is currently the longest serving teacher in this building. That’s remarkable in and of itself, because inner city public high schools have a high rate of teacher burn out, leading to a high turn over rate for teachers.

By now you must have realized that something unforeseen, unplanned and unwelcome has happened in the life of this faithful teacher to cause his absence in the first place, let alone during the final weeks of the school year, which are so critical for the students who are taking exams and hoping to pass their classes, so they don’t have to repeat them next year. And you would be right. Something unexpected has come into this teacher’s life – the diagnosis of an aggressive cancer.

At present, he is in a fight for his very life. He is undergoing chemo treatments in hopes that the cancer can be eradicated, allowing him to return to his normal life. Maybe “normal” isn’t an adequate description of his life before cancer, or of anyone’s life for that matter. “Normal” is different for each one of us. Suffice it to say that the goal, the hope, the desire, is for him to be able to return to his “pre-cancer life.” That’s why cancer patients endure the hardship inflicted on their bodies by chemotherapy. They believe and hope that after their body is nearly destroyed in the process of killing the cancer, they will survive, their health will be restored, and they will take up again the life they were living before the appearance of this deadly disease.

To this end, many of us are praying for this teacher. We are praying for his recovery from this disease. We are praying for restoration of his health and for his life to continue for many years to come. We don’t know how to pray any differently. I admit, I don’t know what else to pray or how else to pray. BUT – these words of the apostle Paul give me pause and point me to a very different perspective. Paul says this –

“now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

now that’s a different perspective! Paul continues –

“If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!”

He doesn’t know? Are you kidding me? Isn’t it obvious? But Paul’s not done. He continues –

“I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” (Philippians 1:20-26)

So there you have it. I guess I don’t have the apostle Paul’s perspective yet. Maybe one day I will. Paul says to die is gain and he says he “desires to depart and be with Christ.” Why? Because Paul says that’s “better by far.” Why don’t I feel that way? I’m pretty attached to life here on earth at the moment, even with all its sorrows, pains, losses, uncertainties, strife, hardships, illnesses, famines, wars, crime, all kinds of suffering – WOW! and that’s only a partial list! Yet I want to stay here for as long as possible? And not only myself, but when I am asked to pray for others who are ill, their request and my request on their behalf, is always to heal them and to prolong their life here on earth.

Why? Maybe it’s like what C.S. Lewis said about us – “It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”

That’s me, I’m sure, with earth as my mud puddle and heaven the holiday at the sea that I am doing everything I can to avoid. I guess that’s because I truly can’t imagine what heaven will be like. It is the unknown. Earth is the known, the comfortable, even with all its troubles and trials. I read in 1 Corinthians this about what awaits me –

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 1:9)

You and I have God’s promise of something better, but still we hang on to what we have here now. Actually, when God created all this, it was good, very good. It was a perfect paradise, that is until Eve made her ill advised choice and everything went south. Still, there are echos of the eternal here on earth to this day. It’s like Thorton Wilder said in his play “Our Town” –

“We all know that something is eternal. . . . There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.”

But our attachment to the temporal is strong. Emily voices this in “Our Town” when she says –

“Good-bye world. Good-bye Grover’s Corners . . . Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking . . . and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths. And sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

And so it is, wonderful, that is. Even this fallen version of the original garden given to Adam and Eve is filled with the beauty of God’s creation everywhere we look. From sunrise to sunset, “the heavens declare the glory of God.” There are many God given joys here in this life, so it’s hard to fully understand that God is preparing something infinitely superior for us when we leave this earth. Our minds just can’t conceive of such a thing. So we pray to remain here at all costs.

What do I pray for? I find myself pleading with God for the physical healing of loved ones, family and friends who are ill, so that I and others that love them might have more time with them. Loss is painful. I don’t want to experience that pain. I don’t want to lose those I love to death. But as I pray for the temporal physical healings of those that ask me to pray for them, I am convicted to pray for more than just the physical. I am convinced I am to pray for their eternal spiritual healings with equal, if not more urgency.

Still, I find myself often conflicted as to how I should pray. It is then the story of the paralytic comes to mind, reminding me that “God is able to do more than I could ever ask for or imagine.” The paralytic simply wanted the physical healing that would allow him to walk again. But Jesus said to him, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees took issue with Jesus’s statement to the paralytic. Jesus responded by saying –

” ‘But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . .’ Then He said to the paralytic, ‘Get up, take your mat and go home.’ And the man got up and went home” (Matthew 9:2, 5-7)

That day the paralytic received both a physical and a spiritual healing from Jesus. He had sought out Jesus desiring only to be set free from his paralysis. But Jesus wanted to give him so much more. Jesus set him free from his sin. It wasn’t either/or, it was both!

Today I know too many who are fighting cancer or other physical ailments that make their lives hard, painful and a challenge just to get through the day. How do I pray for those I love? What do I pray for? I naturally pray for their physical healing, assuming that we all prefer more time in our mud puddle to departing for our holiday at the sea.

As I pray for what I humanly desire, my Heavenly Father reassures me that in His perfect will, all outcomes are good for those “who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.” The apostle Paul was on to something when he said that whether he remained here on earth or he died and went to be with God – either way was a win for him!

It’s just not a win for those of us who are left behind when our loved one dies. But knowing it is a win for them brings me comfort and gives me peace, joy and hope when I need it most – when I am mourning their loss. Or more aptly put, my loss of them, as they are not lost in the least but are found, now home in the place prepared just for them. Jesus confirmed this when He told His disciples –

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

Today, surrounded by so many people I know desiring a miracle healing, wanting prayer – what do I pray for? I will pray God’s will (not mine) because His will is “good, perfect and pleasing” always.

I will pray – asking my Heavenly Father – “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” And like Paul, I will know that either outcome is a good one. Because God is good.

“The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. . . . The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made.” (Psalm 145:9 & 17)

sincerely, Grace Day

a curious connection

Posted on by Grace Day

Do you ever find yourself thinking random thoughts that don’t appear to be connected in any way and then later these thoughts connect themselves in curious ways that make perfect sense? – well at least to you, if not to anyone else. Such is often the case with me. Actually most of my thoughts are very random and unrelated, so when they connect themselves into something that reveals a new insight or a larger truth, it is always an exciting moment on my otherwise mundane journey of everyday random thoughts.

Such was the revelation my random thoughts revealed concerning the connection between the thief on the cross and the workers in the vineyard parable. You don’t see it? Well, I never did either, until now. You remember the workers in the vineyard parable, right? This was a story that never made sense to me. Actually, the outcome seemed obviously wrong because it appeared to me to be unfair to some of the workers involved. Let me explain or better yet, let Jesus tell you the story, just as He told it to His disciples –

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.” (Matthew 20:1-9)

Well, the story continues with all the workers getting paid a denarius, including those who were hired first and had worked a full day in the hot sun. Naturally they grumbled against the owner, because they felt this was unfair. The owner’s response?

“Friend I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13-15)

So what does this have to do with the thief on the cross? You know, the one that was crucified on the cross right next to the one on which Jesus hung. Well, actually there were two men being crucified for their crimes that day along with Jesus, one on either side of Him. Their conversation in those final moments reveals everything about the condition of their hearts. Luke records for us that very eye-opening conversation which went as follows,

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: (Jesus) ‘Aren’t You the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.’ ” (Luke 23:39-42)

This is surely a surprising, even apparently non-sensical request for the criminal to make, considering that Jesus’s situation doesn’t appear to be any better than his own. They are both suffering the exact same fate at the moment, being crucified on crude wooden crosses while an angry and curious crowd of spectators watch and wait. Both are headed for identical outcomes of death, it would seem. And yet, this criminal dares to ask the impossible of Jesus, who at present, is hanging on a cross next to him. We can safely assume that this man has done more bad deeds than good ones in his life, but despite this, he cries out to Jesus with his last breath.

There can be only one reason why he would dare to do this, to make such a preposterous request. Unlike the criminal hanging on the other side of Jesus, who mocked and taunted Jesus with his last words, this thief believed Jesus to be exactly who He claimed to be. The only thing more unexpected and surprising than the criminal’s audacious death bed ask, is Jesus’s death bed answer to him.

“Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’ ” (Luke 23:43)

Jesus’s answer is surprising on every level. First of all, Jesus states that He will be in paradise. How is that possible? And then to promise this criminal that he also will get to go to paradise after the life of crime that he has apparently lived? This is unbelievable. This is preposterous even! But it is also true! Jesus is who He has always claimed to be – the Word become flesh to dwell among us – the promised Messiah – the Christ – the Son of the Living God – the Savior of the world – the Lamb of God and Lord of all.

Because Jesus is exactly who He said He was, He is able to do the impossible, which is exactly what the criminal on the cross beside Jesus asked of Him that day – to do the impossible, the unbelievable; to grant him the unmerited, the undeserved – forgiveness, redemption and eternal life. That’s a really big ask. Especially when it is directed at someone who appears to be in no position to grant such a request at the moment. BUT things are not always as they appear to be. The thief on the cross next to Jesus had faith. He believed Jesus was who He claimed to be and that Jesus could and would grant his request.

Fortunately for the thief on the cross, not only is Jesus able but that day, Jesus chose to show him mercy and grant his request. Jesus’s answer to him makes that clear. So what does the criminal on the cross have in common with the vineyard workers? – especially those hired on at the eleventh hour? It seems to me, they all had nothing to offer but everything to gain.

The criminal on the cross offered Jesus nothing in exchange for what he was asking of Jesus, but Jesus granted his request anyway. The criminal received what he did not deserve and could not earn. Those late hire vineyard workers received wages they hadn’t earned also. The owner extended them an invitation that was unlikely and unexpected at that late hour of the day when little time to work was left, but they accepted and went to his vineyard anyway, with little to offer the owner. But the owner rewarded them as if they had worked all day, from the very first hour. They had little to give but their gain was great.

I feel my own connection to the vineyard workers and to the criminal on the cross. I have nothing to offer Jesus but everything to gain when I accept His invitation to come work in His kingdom or I boldly request of Him what no one else has the power to give. Even though I have nothing to offer Him, Jesus stands ready to give me everything. Why would I not cry out – “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”?

Like the vineyard workers and the criminal on the cross, I am thankful that this is true of God –

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:10)

There is hope! Even in the most seemingly hopeless situation there is hope. The workers who had waited all day in vain to be hired ended up with a full day’s wages after receiving and accepting an unlikely, last minute invitation. The criminal hanging on the cross had the audacity to take Jesus at His word and to ask Jesus for what he did not deserve but longed to receive. Because he humbled himself and acknowledged the truth of who Jesus is, Jesus granted his impossible request.

The accounts of these people give me so much hope. I can always cry out to my Heavenly Father, even though I have nothing to offer Him but my need and my brokenness. He has everything to offer me and stands ready to do the impossible so that I might receive it. Indeed, in Isaiah I am told –

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion.” (Isaiah 30:18)

Like the criminal on the cross, I can believe despite what appears to be happening in this world at the moment, that the Christ on the cross will indeed “remember me when He comes into His kingdom.” I will have the faith to believe and to make my impossible request of Jesus. I have nothing to give to Him. He has everything to give to me. The criminal on the cross understood this even though he had never heard these words spoken by Jesus to His disciples –

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)

Jesus remembers me, He will remember you too, dear readers – ask Him!

sincerely, Grace Day