| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Heaven” Our Bible verse for today: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 (NIV) Our thought for today: “Getting old isn’t for sissies.” So far in this series we have learned several important truths regarding heaven and our journey towards it. First, heaven is real. Second, life is short. Third, eternity is long and so we had better be sure about where we’re going to spend it. Fourth, we all want to go to heaven, but most of us don’t want to go just yet. Our natural human tendency is to fight death and to hold it off as long as we can. If we are successful in doing so, it means that we will live a long time in human years. Our life on earth, even if it lasts 80 or 90 years, is really just a blip on the radar screen of eternity but from the human perspective, it will have been a good long life. The downside is that as we get older our bodies deteriorate and we experience all the aches, pains, and disabilities of an aging body that is rapidly exceeding its “best if used by” date. But that’s by design. God created our bodies to progressively fail so that the older we get, the less we’re going to like it. Here’s how Randy Alcorn explained it in his helpful book “Heaven”: “God uses suffering and impending death to unfasten us from earth and to set our minds on what lies beyond.” That being the case, it really is true then that getting old isn’t for sissies. If you are going to live long enough to get old then you had better prepare yourself for aching joints, a weak bladder, less hair on your head and more in your ears, and a whole host of assisted living devices such as eye glasses, hearing aids, walkers, and more. As our bodies age, God is preparing us to leave the old failing physical body behind and to get ready for something new, something better. And what would that something better be? For one thing it will include a new eternal body to replace this old failing one. The Christian writer, Joni Eareckson Tada (who has spent most of her life as a quadriplegic) once described it this way: “One day no more bulging middles or balding tops. No varicose veins or crow’s-feet. No more cellulite or support hose. Forget the thunder thighs and highway hips. Just a quick leapfrog over the tombstone and it’s the body you’ve always dreamed of. Fit and trim, smooth and sleek.” The picture the Bible paints of eternity in heaven looks remarkably like life on earth, but in a perfect way. That includes the body we will spend eternity in. That body will be a lot like this one, only perfect (we will think more about this tomorrow.) As we’ve already discussed, most of us like this life on earth and we’re not very eager to give it up. So, what if life in heaven was actually like life on earth, only perfect? Hold that thought, we will come back to it tomorrow. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville |
| Copyright © 2023 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571 |
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