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Monday, February 16, 2009

Do We Die When Our Work Is Through?

I have heard it so many times at funerals, "His work in this world was over so God took Him." If that is the case, it appears I have 430 more years left!

The problem that we have most of the time is that we don't know what we are supposed to do. We see that our desires, even those desires that will glorify God, must be done by us. We have so many things we want to do on this earth. We want to keep doing those things no matter what. When we don't know what we are here to do we want to keep on doing what we have been doing.

I had a good friend pass away recently. He had a tremendous influence in many people. He had led many people to the Lord directly and indirectly by leading mission trips and working with the youth in his church. He had contributed to a book which has had an impact on youth. He had taken his faith seriously when it came to caring for people. He told me that he was ready to go "home" to the Lord. Cancer had racked his body. He was unable to do the things he had done as vigorously as before. He had completed his work. He died at fifty-one.

I wonder if heaven receives people differently. Do some people enter with the angels saying, "So what?" while others are given a victory parade? Are there those whom it will be said, "You weren't doing anything on earth anyway", so God decided it was time for them to come home? Are there others that God couldn't stand a moment away from them any longer so he called them home?

It will be too late to change your entrance into heaven when the time comes for you to go. It would be much better to do what God has called you to do now. We need to get about the work of loving people into God's kingdom. We need to be the example of forgiveness and grace to all those around us. We need to find ourselves completed when our days on this earth are also completed.

I want to go to heaven in a victory parade. How about you?

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