Are you ready? Ready to leave this world? Are you ready to leave everyone and everything you know behind? Are you afraid of death? And do you wonder why the God we worship sees a need to make us suffer in this way?
Romans 8:36 tells us that for his sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day - we are like sheep awaiting slaughter. Why did our Creator God make these mortal flesh bodies in the first place? Why not just go ahead and make us the spirit beings that he so desperately desires us to finally be?
We will never be an angel because God created us to be something far different. We are more powerful and looked upon by the angels and envied. Angels are messengers ‘only’, and are powerful servants of God’s order. Mankind on the other hand, was created to love and serve God ‘and’ other humans like ourselves. We also were created to live our lives storing up our rewards in heaven, and in this way there will be all levels of praise and honor among those who endured the flesh.
This is a battle that the angels never had to fight. They were created as they are; servants to God and God’s will, and no necessity to store up treasures in heaven or suffer the curse of the flesh! That’s right, there is a curse of the flesh. And this curse has a great purpose. Although we cannot earn forgiveness, we and our deeds will be measured and are the compilation of who we are, and the choices we make. And these choices will become the building blocks of our new home in heaven.
Like it or not; God is watching very carefully and measuring every single thought and step as a way to calculate your ‘chuckle-head refund’. And a bigger refund is better; right? Yes; I’m being silly, is that alright with you, or should I act like everyone else and take myself far to seriously.? Yet at the same time, this is a serious message, a message that should shock all who truly understand why we are here, and what God wanted from as from the very beginning.
So what is it that God wants from us? First and foremost, he wants our loyalty. Loyalty to all the things that he has claimed. In other words; stop calling him a liar! That’s exactly what you do if you reject any of the things the Bible proclaims. Any story, any law, or any prophecy. They all must be taken as they are, regardless of our own likes or dislikes. That’s right; the devil and demons, death and destruction, punishment and hell itself, are all things unpleasant to most of us, but just because it might not suit your personal taste, you had better swallow it anyway!
Everyone is just dying to live ‘on and on’. They fear everything, yet everything is God’s creation! This is how it was meant to be, death is our only escape, it is our only way out, and our only light at the end of the tunnel. We run from it as if it is our enemy, bent on murdering us, and torturing us until we finally succumb to its murderous hands!
But this is not God’s will for us! He loves us and does not wish for us to suffer. We bring the suffering upon ourselves by not being willing to accept God’s truth about real life, and real death, and what and who we really are. We all must die the death of the flesh, but that is not the end, but only the true birth of ‘you’!
And there we go, being all afraid again. Jesus took his turn, and we all must do the same. Living and dying, dying and living, what is the truth about our existence? And why is everyone so confused? The only reason for confusion is the unwillingness of all of mankind to simply embrace the things that they have no control over. Instead of accepting the obvious, they choose to fight a unwinnable battle against a unbeatable God! And instead of following God’s truth, they spend their years running from it.
The desire to live out eternity inside this rotting flesh is the height of utter ignorance! When you hug someone you love; what are you really hugging? Is it the flesh or the spirit? Which one is you? Our spirit is already ‘eternal’, that cannot be changed. Only the place you will inhabit will be in play. Your spirit cannot escape the future, and killing the body can’t save you from the throne of judgement!
The struggle to live is a powerful one. But what exactly does it mean to live? There are as many types of living as there are people, but only one of us has ever got it exactly right. Jesus gave up the flesh, because his perfect faith told him that the body, at best, was only temporary.
We cannot fight our death, or even postpone it, we can only spend what is left on Jesus. Your gift to him, and your way of showing your faith, is to die for him. Give your life in the flesh to him, because you know in your heart that you value it above all other things. Stop dying to live and start living to die; this is the truest measure of life and faith.