Quest day #4--Made to Last Forever

" This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever." -- 1 John 2:17

"When this tent we live in--our body here on earth-- is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever." -- 2 Corintians 5:1

Wow what a chapter. It ceases to amaze me how cool God is and how His timing is so perfect. Over the past several months I have been dealing with these strange and crazy thoughts about death. How it can be frightening to think that I have already lived 22 years of my life and that is probably almost a quarter of my lifetime. I think the scary part is that I feel like if I died today my life would have counted for nothing. I have been a Christian and lived a fairly good life, but what have I done with the wonderful gift of salvation that God has instructed me as His child to spread. I have only actually led one person to the Lord ever! Not that that one person was a bummer, but I know that I have come in contact with so many people over the years and never mentioned the Love of God to them. That is sad to me.

And just the thought of dying was scary to me. What would death be like, would it be instant, what would heaven be like. Something that I also didn't think of was that I just assumed Heaven was a guarrantee. I mean it is for those that walk with Christ, but that is a day by day thing, I can't just assume daily that my life is right with Christ and that I am going to heaven. I have to work at my relationship with God, just like you work at any other relationship or marriage. If I were to assume that BJ loved me every day without ever telling him or showing him then pretty soon, we would be two people in a marriage that didn't know each other.

And what do you know today's chapter is Made to last forever....We are...God made us to yearn for immortality. It is natural characteristic that God inbred into us to want. Our time here on earth is so short and it is just a practice run for what our eternity will be. If we spend our time on earth apart from God, then our eternity will be apart from God--in hell. But if we have a relationship with GOd, we will be able to continue and further it in heaven for eternity.

It grieves me that many people here on earth, good people, take for granted their time here on earth, thinking that they will have heaven as a second chance. But its not like that. Our life here determines our eternity. There is more to life than just here and now.

If we live our life with this mentality, things of the world and little things don't seem to matter as much. The amount of money or the number of achievements and accomplishments that we have just don't seem to have as much weight anymore. Instead people that we share the gospel with and how much time we spend developing our relationship with Christ are the top priorities.

I pray that no one that I know will ever suffer eternal separation from God after death. The post-death is very real for those who are not saved as much as it is for those who are. Once you die, you don't just end, one way or the other you live forever, it just depends where. I pray that my friends and family all have active relationships with God and if they don't that they will strive to have one.

This chapter solidified alot of fears I was having and allowed me to feel confident in my beliefs an knowing that one day I will end my time here on earth, but that is just the first day of the rest of my life in heaven with my Father. It will not be a sad day, but a day of rejoicing, just like the song says. I know that "when the role is called up yonder, I'll be there."

Will you?