Stuff and Other Baggage
June 13, 2011
Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . "
There is a joke about a man trying to take his gold with him to Heaven but the angels laugh at him, wondering why he would want to bring pavement into Heaven. It is an interesting idea, but a concept hard to understand, that things SO important to us here on earth really don't matter. Even devout Christians get confused at times with what REALLY matters in life. It is easy to do when you spend so much of your time toiling at work just to pay the bills. You forget what bills and expenses are actually and truly necessary, with everything else a waste of time. I know I get caught up in this occasionally, with desires in life that have no eternal value. The things I want in life: stuff, status, or satisfaction are often just unnecessary baggage that I cannot take into Heaven with me.
In fact, the Bible is VERY clear about what makes it into Heaven with you. You cannot take your car, or your boat, or your home, or your clothes, or your fame, or your pride into Heaven with you. You cannot take your social life or your successful career into Heaven. There is no room in Heaven for those things and they won't even matter anyway. If you try to have all those things in this life, then you must realize they are in vain, generating absolutely NO heavenly value. If they are pointless in Heaven, then they are pointless to have with you on this earth. It is junk that simply weighs you down. Luggage is often heavy. If it isn't completely necessary, my advice is to let it go, it will just slow you down in this life. This is easier said than done. Extra baggage will keep you from what really IS important and what WILL make it into Heaven with you.
The only things you can take into Heaven with you are your actions, your good deeds for the Lord. The Bible declares that we are strangers in this world and our only home is in Heaven with the Lord. We are not to be of this world; we are simply here for a short while. Your good deeds will not earn your entrance fee into Heaven, that was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. But your good works will be there, as your lasting legacy for what you did on this earth for the Lord. You are a foreigner here, so act like it. If you think of a foreigner in your land, he usually has strange customs and behaviors unlike your own. This is how you are to be at all times, living like a stranger in this land. Your behavior should be different. Your values should be different. The stuff that you purchase or cling to in this world should be different. No one says you should be a freak, but your peculiarity should make you stick out a bit. This is not your natural habitat and it should show.
You were sent here on a mission, to show yourself approved unto the Lord. Baggage will only make it harder for you to accomplish what you are supposed to do for Him. Your longing should be for Heaven and eternity with the Savior, which will influence your actions right here, right now. Show me how you live and I will show you what is important in your life. Don't fit in, it will make you look good in Heaven's eyes! If you have extra stuff, get rid of it; you won't need it where you are going!
Don't take my word for it; look it up: Ps 119:19, Philippians 3:15-21, Heb 11:13-16, James 4:14, 1 Peter 2:11-12
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Stuff and Other Baggage
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The brethren of The Messiah no longer have their portion with those who follow "the broad way that leads to destruction"!Rev18:4,Mt 7:13)
Thankfully they are but "aliens and pilgrims while on the earth" for their "citizenship is in Heaven"!(Heb11:13,1Pt2:11,Phlp3:20)
So it is that they have "Come Out" of the systems that are of this wicked world, and especially it's systems of religion!
And they have taken heed unto the exhortation to:
“Love Not The World”
”For the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one”.......(IJn5:19)
John testified, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world will pass away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of The Only True GOD will abide for ever.”(IJn2:15-17)
The Messiah testified, “If you were of the world, the world would love it’s own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.”(Jn15:19-20)
James testified, “Where do wars and fighting among you come from? Do they not come of your lusts that war in your members? You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war yet you have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is to be at enmity with The Only True GOD? Therefore whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of The Only True GOD.”(Js4:1-4)
The Messiah testified, “The world cannot hate you; but the world hates Me, because I testify that the works of this world are evil.”(Jn7:7) And Paul testified, “The Messiah gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of The Only True God, Our Father.”(Gal1:4)
The Messiah testified: “If the world hates you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”(Jn5:18) Truly, Truly, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life in this world shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall have it unto life eternal.”(Jn12:24-25)
John testified: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you.”(IJn3:13)
James testified, “Whoever would be a friend of this world is the enemy of GOD!”(Js4:4)
"Come Out of her, MY people"!
"Come Out" of the systems that are of this wicked world, especially it's systems of religion for they but carry on the legacy of the pharisee's ;-(
Global warming, polluted air, land and waters; toxic wastes, sexual perversion, evil inventions of destruction, systems of religion, lies, deception, delusion, greed, hate, carnal warfare, dis-ease(no-peace),,etc,, are all destructive processes that have their root in “the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” which caused Eve to fall victim to 'd'evil, and which continue to fuel the fires of mankind’s “imag”ination ;-(
"Come out from among them and be separate"!
Do not have your portion with those who are destroying Creation(air, water, land, vegetation, creatures) and perverting that which is Spirit(Truth, Light, Life, Love, Peace,,,,, All that is Truly Good)!
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth......(1Jn5:19) asimpleandspirituallife.org
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