Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson, the last lesson of 2020 from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Heaven, Education, and Eternal Learning”. It has been a strange year for most of us. A troubling and sad year for some of us. And here we now are on the last few days of the year with Christmas looming. We all know that December 25 is not the real birthday of Christ. And we all know that He did not ever ask us to celebrate nor make an issue of the day of His birth. Other important events in His life are to be remembered and celebrated. His death (communion), His death and resurrection (baptism) and of course, the weekly Sabbath-day. And yet, even this pagan-affected holiday can be used by our God to reach and to save the lost. He is a savant at using bad things for His purpose of good. And in this week’s lesson, we look at the good He has planned for us for all eternity.
A good lesson on “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1). “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). Amen! This old earth is really an upside down place. And so we look for a new heaven and earth… wait for it… long for it. Our lesson this week gives much to study, meditate about and to discuss. And yet…
Yet the one over-arching attribute of all the inhabitants of that Blissful Place, that Beulah Land, is the attribute of love that seeks not its own. The attribute of love that works for the good of all others… especially us sinners. The attribute of love that wants us sinners there, more than their own eternal security. The attribute of love that would give-up that Blissful Place for even the vilest sinner. And if that is not enough, we are told that those of us who have not this love, will not be in that Blissful Place. Seems a paradox. To entice us with the joys of that place… and then tell us that in order to be there, we must be willing to sacrifice our place there for even the vilest of sinners. But it is only a paradox as long as we are the center of our focus.
If God is the center of our focus, then others will be the center, too. As long as we are the center, then preserving our selves in the hereafter is our goal. If others are our focus, then there welfare is our goal. If Love for others is the center of our focus, then others will be the center, too. If love is the center of our focus, then other’s welfare is our goal, too. And so any preoccupation we have with the hereafter for our own sakes is somewhat misplaced.
Morris Venden tells of how he often told Academy students this hypothetical story and then asked them a question:
STORY: You arrive at the Pearly Gates and St. Peter meets you there. He says to you, “Well, here it all is. Just as you heard. Streets of Gold. The River of Life. Even the Garden of Eden is here, preserved as it was. Food aplenty and life eternal. It’s all here except for one thing. Jesus is not here. He is out in the desert wastelands hanging on a cross”.
QUESTION: “Would you go into heaven, or go to Christ in the desert and join Him on His cross for the salvation of others? Be honest now...”, he states.
Sad to say, says Pastor Venden, most students honestly reply that they would go into heaven and leave Jesus in the desert… to die alone.
So again I repeat, if our focus is to gain heaven, we will not be there. If our focus is on others to the exclusion of our own eternal security, we will be there. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Suffice it to say, this kind of love is utterly beyond our ability to produce. It comes only as we connect with God… that same God that is hanging in the desert. For this is your “cross”. Not some hardship. Not some tragedy that befalls you. Not some thwarted dream or disappointment. Your “cross” is the same as Christ’s. A “cross” of sacrificial love to others excluding your own eternal security. Love that leads you to sacrifice all for others. This is the “cross”. “Love for souls for whom Christ died means crucifixion of self” (Desire of Ages pg. 417).
You see, we experience the bliss of heaven now… or not at all. If we value and love others here and now, then we are among the heavenly throng who love others here and now. But if we have eternal life as our goal here and now, we are in the company of Satan and his angels who only value themselves . They value themselves over everyone and everything else. God values you over everything else. See Philippians 2: 6-11 … and then run to Jesus in His sacrificial love and “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus? (Philippians 2:5). It truly is the only way to live. In union with Him... where He is... sacrificing all, all the time, for the "other". It is the only “Christmas Blessing” God has for us. To be like Him.
With brotherly love to you all,
Jim