Someday...either you will die or you will be here for Christ’s second coming and the world as we know it will end. According to someone…I haven’t really researched it or anything, but someone out there is saying the world is going to end this Saturday May 21. I don’t believe it. Mainly because the Bible says no one will know the day.
"However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” Matthew 24:36
But it has got people talking.
At church on Sunday our pastor preached on it. Do you know what was mentioned in the sermon? Bucket lists! Like my 30 before 30 list. He was basically saying how he doesn’t get how people can say “I want to do X, X, and X before I die” and spend your whole life trying to do those things because if you are a Christian, why should that stuff matter so much. You want to see the Alps before you die? Why? Do you know how much more awesome the Alps will be in heaven?! You want to run a marathon? Cool..but if you don’t before you die, don’t fear because I am sure you will be able to do it pain-free when you get to heaven with your new body! (Yes we get new bodies!! I am so excited about that part!)
The point is, you don’t need to do these “things” before you die because it isn’t the end. HEAVEN is where you will spend eternity (if you get in. do you have doubts about if your ticket is approved? Let me introduce you to this awesome guy…Jesus.) Your life here is but a blip on the radar.
So do I think bucket lists are stupid or unimportant? No. My 30 Before 30 list has enabled me to do so much, meet so many people, learn so much. But the center of it all is GOD. That is my motivation. Sharing Him with others. Learning more about Him and my relationship with Him. Building relationships with others and God. Changing my heart and making it more like His. The list gives me structure and motivation. And I think God loves that!
It has also got people saying “If I knew the world was going to end I would…” How you answer that reveals a lot about your heart. And if it doesn’t involving doing something for God maybe you are focused on the wrong things. The end of the world isn't the end...it's just the beginning of eternity.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25
The past two nights I have devoured a sermon series by Matt Carter. He is the pastor at Austin Stone Community Church in Texas. Please go listen to it. I will warn you…I cried my eyes out listening to the first sermon. The other two kept me up until 2 am last night. But now, I am so freaking excited about heaven…or more importantly “the new earth”. I don’t care if I never get married or have kids or get skinny or get to stay in an over water bungalow in Tahiti…because heaven is going to be freaking awesome! If you listen to the series, please email me with your thoughts! Good or bad…for or against…I don’t care. I am just dying to talk to someone about it!
Listen here- Heaven & Hell- A study of our eternal destination
Or just search “Austin Stone” on iTunes and the podcasts are available there
Sorry- didn’t mean to get all preachy. We’ll return to regularly scheduled programming soon…you know…unless the world ends on Saturday :)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
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1 comment:
That's actually an interesting point about why do we feel like we need to accomplish things on our bucket list before we die, as if that will be the last time we have to do anything. I think, from the world's perspective, we do only have limited time, so I can understand why people would think like that.
As a Christian though, while I understand what your pastor is getting at, I still think that it's important to have goals and things we strive to accomplish while on this earth. God has us each here for a reason, and those reasons matter. Having a goal to strive towards does give us a sense of purpose in life, and as humans, I think we need that.
Do we need to be overly concerned with accomplishing everything before we die? No, probably not. But is it necessarily bad to strive for our goals. No, I don't think it is. God gave us desires and hopes and dreams, and if one of those is to see the Alps, great! He made the Alps, after all, and I'm sure He'd love us to enjoy them.
So anyway, I'm not sure which point I'm arguing here... just that it definitely made me think. So, thank you for that!
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