I am reading Billy Graham’s latest book, Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well. There are many topics, but one thing keeps screaming at me: Prepare for the future by preparing in Christ!
With the financial upheaval, the protests sweeping the globe and the extensive natural disasters that have plagued our world many are concerned with where we are heading. Some interpret end times scenarios while others say it is another bump in human history, but almost all say PREPARE!
We are told to invest in this or to avoid stock in that. We are told to have health insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, life insurance and countless other forms of insurance for our futures. But none of those insurances can guarantee our safety. They can prolong discomfort in the physical, mental and emotional senses, they can provide some security and assurance that the future is not as gloomy as some predict, but none of them prepare our souls.
While you might not be spiritual, you probably feel a need to prepare. I wonder, as you are preparing do you still find yourself anxious, wanting more, needing more? Do you still feel lacking in something? Are your accomplishments as rewarding as you imagined them to be? Do you stay awake at night planning ahead, worried or restless? Or do you throw yourself into your tasks to avoid having to think? Perhaps you throw yourself into hobbies, work, family or some form of drug to avoid having to think about that empty part inside. Perhaps you do not even recognize you have an empty part inside, perhaps you think you don’t have an empty part because you go to church, you pray, you do community service, because you are a good person?
We have an empty part inside, a part only Christ can fill. He is the insurance our souls long for. We can fill our lives with many forms of insurance, even going to church, but unless we are building a lasting foundation in Christ we are not really insuring our souls.
From a Biblical standpoint:
1. Going to church does not make you a Christian any more than eating at McDonald’s makes you a BigMac. Doing good things does not make you a Christian any more than being a mechanic makes you a car. You cannot be good enough to work your way to heaven, you cannot attend church enough to gain entrance into heaven (read my blog Titled Salvation for information on how to become a Christian).
2. Just because you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior does not mean your souls’ journey ends there. God has a plan for you, a purpose for your life. You must spend time with him daily; you must grow in your relationship with him to be able to hear his voice. You don’t get married and then never talk to your spouse; if you did, it wouldn’t be long before you divorced because you fell out of love. A relationship with God is the same, it takes time and effort. We don’t accept Christ into our lives simply for life insurance; we do it out of love because he loves us.
If we begin our foundation in Christ, we must continue to build upon it to help us withstand the trails of the world. Christ is not simply a way into heaven; he is a way to overcome life’s difficulties with peace and joy. He wants to walk with us through the storms of life; he wants to ensure our happiness.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”John 16:33
"The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
So my questions for you are: Do you have a foundation for your soul? If so, are you building on your foundation or letting roots spring up and make cracks in your groundwork? Are you ready for life’s disasters?
If you are building on any other foundation, trusting in any other form of insurance, you will be disappointed, you will be left wanting, you will continue to worry. Only in Christ can we overcome.
“This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them” Jeremiah 10:2 NIV
We do not have to worry about what will happen, if we are living in the end times or if we are about to go through another Great Depression if we build on Christ. We can have assurance that our foundation can withstand ANYTHING, even if it is a little painful.
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