Archive for New Earth
Christians and the Environment
Posted by: | CommentsThree men weighed in for Christianity Today on how concerned Christians should be for the environment. Their answers aren’t comprehensive, but they are a great start.
Here’s Al Mohler.
And Jonathan Merritt.
Also worth mentioning is that Jonathan Merritt’s book, Green Like God, looks like a good one to check out.
Pay or Walk Away?
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Yesterday, I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal. It reports a growing trend in some areas of the country where home owners simply walk away from their loans even though they can afford the payments. Walk away, meaning, they just stop paying their loan and take whatever hit comes to their credit score, etc. Apparently, in some States, your mortgage company cannot pursue your other assets if you choose this option. Usually, people do so because their homes have drastically dropped in value.
The problem, however, is that there are only a few lines even hinting to the fact that if you simply ‘walk away’ from your loan, you are failing to uphold your end of a signed contract. I have been in countries (and in a business more or less) where contracts are often considered little more than a framework for the deal. Somewhat optional. And the effects of such a mindset are disastrous. I am very concerned about what will happen to our country if more and more people begin to adopt the same attitude to their agreements.
Can you imagine living in a world where a handshake or a simple ‘yes’ was enough to seal an agreement? Where both parties had absolute confidence that the man or woman shaking their hand or saying that ‘yes’ would uphold their end of the agreement? What a great place to live!
Well, this is how Jesus calls His followers to live. ”Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No’ no,” He said. And the beauty of it is that someday (at least according to the Bible), it will be exactly like that. On the New Earth, everyone will keep their word perfectly and completely. No one will be walking away. I can’t wait for that day. But until then, we are wise to uphold our end of an agreement, no matter how difficult it may be.
Cultivating a Holy Longing
Posted by: | CommentsIn his book, The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridges writes,
Generally speaking, believers who have the least benefits of this life have the most vigorous hopes of heaven.
He’s right, right? I believe so. After all, if you have nothing here and God promises you a New Heaves and New Earth in which perfect righteousness dwells, you should have easier time focusing on the future. If all is going well for you here, your relative blessing oftentimes will obscure the perfect blessing that is soon to come.
So what do we do if life is going along quite well? If we are enjoying the benefits of this life in greater measure than many others, must we forgo them in order to long more for heaven?
Lest we think it doesn’t matter whether we long for the life to come, check out Hebrews 9:27-28,
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Did you catch that last part? ‘To save those who are eagerly waiting for him.’ That’s no joke huh? Though salvation is solely through faith in Christ, those who faith will eagerly wait.
And yet, we are so apt to feel quite at home here. Life gets going and we think little of the perfect life to come, where those who believe in Christ will live with Him and enjoy life as it ought to be and a thousand times better.
So back to our question: what do we do if our life here is pretty nice? Here’s two suggestions I have probably mentioned before.
1) Read the Bible and good books until you figure out what Heaven is really like and going to be like. Most of us aren’t as clear about the life to come as we may think we are. Do you think Heaven is singing hymns in the clouds with angels? Well then, you are way off and need to read up. Heaven by Randy Alcorn is a great place to start.
2) Cultivate a holy longing for the life to come by diligently seeking the Lord and asking Him for it. Word and prayer. It’s tough to get too much of these.
There is more that we can do, no doubt, but that is a good place to start. For no matter where we are or what is going on in our lives, we will do well to cultivate a holy longing for Christ and the life to come. Believe it or not, it will enable us to live much better here.
