Things to Come

Does the future excite us? Not just things to come in this life, but things beyond this life? Do we have a picture of what is yet to come? We sure do if we are mature Christians because we have been listening to Jesus Christ.. What God has revealed about the things to come excites us. God has told us His plans for us. They are plans for our good, not for our harm.
There was a time when we were not excited about anything beyond our own life. Our own self-centeredness kept us from looking to God or believing what He said will come about in the future. Whatever beliefs we had about the future were only speculation. They were not grounded in the truth. They didn't come from Christ. We didn't believe God that would reveal a big picture of what is in store for His creation. How could we when we didn't believe that God had a big picture. What's more, we couldn't care less because it wasn't about us. It wasn't about what we would get for ourselves in this life.
Then Jesus Christ entered our life. Our flesh came in contact with the Word of God who himself took on flesh. Christ began his transforming in us. We started to listen to him and we came to believe him. As a result we began growing in our knowledge and love of God. Now we recognize that God has indeed revealed His plans for the future. His revelation gives us hope for the future. It also changes the way we life our life here and now.
The more we encounter what Jesus said about the future, the more excited we get. We look forward to it. We long for it and pray for it. Yet the more we mature is Christ, the less we think about ourselves and think about those who have not heard about what is yet to come. We realize that there are lots of people who have not heard and don't believe. They also need to hear how patient God is and that He doesn't want any to perish. Therefore, we carry out the commission Jesus gave his disciples to go and make disciples. Being his disciples we pass on to others what others have passed on to us.
As mature Christians we find ways to connect with people who don't know Christ and point them to Christ. We tell them about Jesus and what he has said about our world and about what is yet to come. We are people transformed by Christ, indwelled by the Holy Spirit with a message to share about the kingdom of God. We are not prophets, though we do speak the truth in love. The message we bring is not our own, it is Christ's. It is not about us, it is about him. Yet, the message has been entrusted to us so that we can share it with others. In sharing it, we tell people about Jesus and what he taught. We probably have to explain the issue of sin and death. As we speak about Jesus we tell people about what is to come. We know that it is true and pray that they will see that it is true as well. Though it seems like bad news, for those who will believe it is good news. We understand that one of the things Jesus said about the future is that not everyone will believe the message we bring. Nevertheless, as mature Christians, we have been equipped though the Church by God for the ministry of brings the gospel to others, of telling them what is to come. We are eager to do so whenever we have the chance. We do it not for the rewards we have been promised to receive in heaven, but out of love for Jesus Christ and God our heavenly Father so that our Father may be glorified.

Growth towards Christian maturity

No One Can Know Things to Come

As human beings, we think we would like to know about the future. We recognize that there are many people who try to predict it. More often than not, they are wrong. If they happen to be correct, we realize that it was an educated guess and not divine revelation. Even if we hear and believe what they predict about the future, we still have some reservation because we cannot be certain that what they said is going to happen. We can hope it happens and believe it will happen, but we have no certainty that it will happen. It is not a word from God. In all honesty, we don't actually believe God tells people about what is yet to come. If we heard someone claim to be speaking about the future on behalf of God, we would say they are crazy. We wouldn't believe them because we don't really believe in God or what God said. We can accept that we have no knowledge ourselves of things to come. Sure, some of us may buy into the myths passed on to us about the future. Maybe they frighten us, maybe some give us a little hope, but none of them give us confidence. None of them point to God and identify Him as having the ultimate and final say in what will happen in the future. Some of us may seek out so called psychics in hopes of figuring out what our personal future holds. We may be willing to go to a stranger who looks at the lines on our hands or the stars and accept what they say as being true, but we have no idea whether they are making it up or even where their supposed insights are coming from. Nevertheless, some of us live for a time believing that our future will turn out just the way the psychic told us. The truth is, we are not looking to the source of all truth as it pertains to the future. In fact, whatever interest we may have in the future is purely selfish. We only want to know good things about our future or things that will enable us to get ahead in life. We have no interest in what God has to say about the future. We have no interest in hearing from Christ or living for him. Whatever we may believe about the future or think about it, it is not based on the truth of God. We are not listening to the only one with authority to tell us about what God really has in store for His creation in the future. We are at best blind to what God has said about the future. Or worse, we are deceived by false prophets who are not speaking on behalf of God.

Jesus Spoke of Future Things

For those who begin moving towards Christian maturity, there comes a point where we begin to listen to Jesus. We hear what he says and believe that he knows what he is talking about. We acknowledge that he speaks the truth. We become his followers. In the process, we discover that one of the things Jesus talks about is the future. In fact, the better we understand the Bible, the more we realize that God has revealed quite a bit about His plans for the future. By accepting Jesus? claims about himself, we come to understand that he has knowledge about the future that is meant for our good, even when it includes struggles and suffering for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is truly reliable regarding what will take place in the future. So we grow in our knowledge and love of him and begin grasping what he has said will one day come about. Not only are we hearing him, but we understand the implications of what Jesus has said about the future as it relates to our own life. Therefore, with the help and leading of the Holy Spirit, we ask the Lord to transform our life more and more into the likeness of Christ and we are intentional about the part we play in disciplining ourselves as his disciples. Though it seems difficult at times and even sounds discouraging, we believe that what God has revealed is ultimately for the good of His creation, which includes us.

Trusting Jesus is Right

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A Warning and A Hope

What we hear from Jesus about the things to come are both warnings and promises of hope. We realize that the warnings are for all so that they turn to Christ. For those who do believe him and live for him, the picture of the future gets us very excited as we think about it and talk about it, for it is a picture of hope. Those who refuse to believe the warnings find no hope in what Jesus said for they deny that it is true and deny Jesus himself. For our part as mature Christians, we speak about what we have heard from Jesus. We tell about who he is and why he took on flesh. We speak of the past as well as the future. Ours is the message of Christ. It is his message. It is the gospel of the kingdom of God. A message of hope that include forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. But it is also a message of warning that tells of what God has in store for those who don't believe. Therefore, whenever we get an opportunity, we speak to people about Jesus. We tell people what he said about the future and about being his disciple. We share the warnings, though our focus is on God's great promises. His warnings are real and they are vital for people to hear. But our focus is on sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. It is both our privilege and responsibility to tell people what God has said He has in store for His creation. We have been bought with a price. We have been told about God's plans for the future. We have been called to be his disciples and to go and make disciples. We have good news to share with the world. But it isn't easy because people in our day have little knowledge or interest in God. They don't believe Him. They don't believe He reveals Himself or that He has revealed anything about the future. To the people in this world, the gospel makes little sense. They must be told why the world is the way it is and what God plans to do about it. They have to grasp the bad news. Sadly, many are likely to reject it. They really don't want to know about the future. They really don't want to be accountable before God. Even so, we must tell them about the problem God is solving in Christ Jesus. Our love for Christ and our love for God compels us to love our neighbors and even our enemies and talk about what is to come. As mature Christians, we get excited by opportunities to talk about what is to come. That is because we are excited about Christ. We are also excited about what is to come, what God has promised. So, we talk about Jesus and what is to come.

Not Surprised and Not Shaken

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