Valerie Rae Hanneman
Revelation 21:1 (NIV) “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
Revelation 21:4 (NIV) “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Revelation 22:20 (NIV) “He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”
I am truly fortunate because I share a house with my best friend. My mom and I live together. My mom is the greatest, she is the only person I know who only wants what is best for me. She has no hidden agenda, she never uses me for her own purposes. She simply loves me no matter what. I absolutely depend on her love and I hope that she knows that I love her just as much.
That is not to say everything is perfect between us - we each have habits that can drive the other up the wall in 30 seconds flat. Most of the things that bug us about each other we have simply accepted and moved on. My mom is a reader and because she loves to read - I love to read. Mom’s favorite books are mysteries - but here is the quirk that I just don’t understand. My mom reads a little bit of the book, and then reads the ending of the book. I think that is so weird. Why would you want to read a mystery story when you know who the bad guy is and you know how the hero and heroine fall in love forever? I personally like the suspense, and trying to guess who the bad guy is (the hero and heroine always fall in love forever) but my mom says that that is how she has always read her books. I wouldn’t want to read a book that way, but if it works for my mom, it works for my mom.
There is one story though that I really do like knowing the end of and that is the history of humanity. And the history of humanity is simply His-story of His relationship with us. His-story is incredibly exciting - full of ups and downs. You know right off who the bad guy is - it’s satan who intends to destroy the Kingdom of God. The Hero is Jesus, who comes to save the world. There is even a heroine whom the Hero loves forever and the heroine is the church. There are some times when defeat seems imminent. The Garden of Eden when humanity fell into sin, the Flood when it did now seem man could not continue on, Calvary when God died, modern thinking that says we are all a product of chance and there is no God. But there are also times of great victory - when God clothed man, when an ark was provided, when a stone rolled away revealing an empty grave, when a remnant of believers rejects modern thinking for the simple and ageless truths of God. And best of all - we know how it ends. We win.
In the end of time we will see satan defeated and cast into the eternal darkness of hell, we will see Jesus as LORD of All, we will live in the New Jerusalem that is built on the new heaven and earth, Jesus will wipe away all of our tears and there will be only joy. How cool is that? I absolutely love how our story ends - it ends as it was meant to begin - with God glorified and with us in relationship with Him.
Here is what confuses me - if we know how our story - which is really His-story - ends then why don’t we live like it?
Or worse, why do we live like we have lost?
Don’t you love watching a football game that first favors one side then favors the other? No matter how closely the game is fought, there comes a point in time when the spectators realize that their team has won and man alive! Don’t the fans in the sands go crazy with celebration! They are bumping chests, high-fiv’ng, shouting, dancing, throwing stuff up in the air. Down on the fields the players are doing their victory dance and a couple of the players are sneaking up on the coach with a bucket of Gatorade and ice.
Why are we not celebrating like this? We know that in the end we win and satan loses - so why are we not celebrating? I am not advocating that we pour gatorade on Pastor Willie every time he preaches a great sermon - it would ruin the carpet. (Maybe we could do it once or twice though!) And maybe bumping our chests is a little much also. But why aren’t we dancing through life? Why aren’t we high-fiv’ng God as we jump out of bed in the morning? Do we shout “Hallelujah” in our cars as we drive to work? Or do we drag along like everybody else does? Do we bubble with the joy of Christ, or mope through our day?
I think that I am going to act like a winner now and now wait until I am with Jesus to start celebrating my win in Jesus. I think that I am going to try a little harder to be God’s dancer and not just one more brick in the wall. Come with me - we’ll celebrate Him together.
LORD Jesus, because of You, I am a winner now and for all eternity. Help me to remember that I am a winner and help my life and my attitude reflect it.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of Fresno First Baptist at valerie@.fresnofirst.org
Check out our blog at www.fesnofirst.org It is under the resources tab.
Posted by Valerie at February 16, 2007 08:33 PM