Opportunity Includes Sacrifice

Most people would like to live forever in Paradise a heavenly place of delight and never ending glory. There is an opportunity for every human ever born to find themselves entering such a place when they leave this old world. The Scripture says; He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Rev 21:3-4 (NLT) This is a wonderful place with a real family but just like the opportunities in this world it will require sacrifice. This sacrifice is misunderstood by most people today. It is never something that can be gathered up and presented to God like they did in the old days. Today the people must give themselves to God. In other words, we must obey the Savior every day of our life. Don’t be confused and think our obedience is taking us to Heaven because the Bible simply says it is “our reasonable service” Rom 12:1. No one enters heaven by their merits or individually. We will all enter heaven on the same day as members of one big family of God.

God created humans along with our universe so that He could choose a family to live forever with Him. This seems to be hard for some people to believe. A fallen creature called the Devil has been allowed to test us because God wants His family to learn to love Him more than life itself. The Devil hates us and wants us to be unfaithful to God. Our response to testing reveals how much love we have for God. People should not focus on the testing but on the overcoming of it. Since we are a family there is a responsibility to help each other. Paul sent help to God’s family; we sent Timothy to visit you. He is our brother and God’s co-worker in proclaiming the Good News of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith, and to keep you from being shaken by the troubles you were going through. But you know that we are destined for such troubles. 1 Thess 3:2-3 (NLT) When we overcome our troubles it makes our determination to love God stronger. But if we go through life without sacrificing ourselves for the plans of God, we will miss our opportunity to be part of His great family.

The Gospel message divides the people of this world into two categories. There are those who obey God and, of course, those who don’t. The Scripture says that God wants the people in His family to be like His first Son. We know that God’s son came to earth and lived in obedience to His Father. Our obedience will cause us some suffering but we are comforted;  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. 2 Thess 2:16-17 (NLT) It seems odd to the people of the world because they don’t believe but every obedient Christian is comforted by God’s grace. There is a great peace that comes into our life. Jesus is the master of those who obey God and the Devil is the master of all people that do not obey. Some people do not think it is fair to say that the Devil is their master. They simply fail to realize that all their sin makes them a child of the evil one who opposes God. In other words, if you are not serving the Almighty you are automatically against Him and His family.

The greatest opportunity in all of history was hidden for thousands of years until Jesus came to earth. Paul said; Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him. Romans 16:25-26 (NLT) This Gospel message can make people strong enough to live life the way that Jesus did. The sacrifice of our normal life frightens many people but God will supply the power that is needed. All of the necessary Good News is available for us today but many people will not yield their life to the Master of the righteous people. They act as if God’s plans were still a secret today. The plan is revealed in the Bible by the Spirit Himself. The Spirit will also give us the power to endure anything in this world until Jesus calls for us. My friends, the victory is well worth the struggle.

Part of our sacrifice is to be concerned about our brothers and sisters in the Lord. After all it is the family of the Almighty and we should have responsibilities. The book of the Acts gives us the idea; Where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God. Acts 14:22 (NLT) Sometimes it is only one person that we encourage and they go to others; Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care. Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there. Acts 15:40-41 Our faith is always in need of help from others; Paul went back through Galatia and Phrygia, visiting and strengthening all the believers. Acts 18:23 (NLT) We all become members of one big family and it is very important for us to help each other. This is true of any family so it must also be important to the family of God. Paul loved his opportunity to serve God;  For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. Romans 1:11-12

Our allegiance and obedience will bring glory to God and in turn we will someday share the glory of our Savior. What a wonderful Gospel we have been given. It was all planned long ago and all those that serve the Lord are privileged. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. Romans 8:29-30 (NLT) Every Christian looks forward to the revealing of the Glory some day. We can make no sacrifice that shares even a small part of the greatness of God’s glory. However, the Lord just loves our pitiful efforts to please Him. The Father has chosen those that are like His Son to live with Him. Have we done everything we can to live like the Son and help others to do the same? The Lord has provided many gifts to help us serve Him but we must receive them as our own. This opportunity is certainly worth our sacrifice.