You have probably heard it said: What we think about eternity will determine how we live today. The Old Testament prophets predicted the first arrival of the Messiah. Everything they foretold came to pass to fulfill God’s plan. This is why I believe what the Bible teaches about Christ’s second return will be exactly as predicted.

We are told that heaven is a temporary holding place for the souls of believers until Jesus returns. After 1000 years on this earth with Christ, we will be transported to a new heaven and a new earth that is indescribable and beautiful. There we will live with God and Christ as the angels have lived for ever.

Matthew 24:4 – 25 warns us to let no one deceive us. We will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation. There will be famines and earthquakes. We will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death. We will be hated by all nations because of our belief in Christ. There will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and will never be equaled again. There will be false prophets. They will perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the strongest and most faithful Christians. II Peter 3:17 – “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.”

I Thessalonians 4:16 – 18 – “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” (This has been called the rapture.) I Corinthians 15:52 – “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (We are told we will have an imperishable body, will become immortal and will have the mind of Christ.”) 1 John 3.2b – “But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Revelation 21:1 – 4 – “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”

God says He is making everything new. Those who are victorious will inherit all these blessings and He will be their God and we will be His children. Those who do not accept Christ as their Savior will spend eternity separated from God.

As we read on there are far greater promises. I don’t know about you but there is nothing I would trade here on this earth for the promises of the future and life after death. How much are we willing to sacrifice in order to live a pure and holy life? How important is it to live as the world lives if it means missing heaven? Is living a disciplined life, saved, totally surrendered, having repented and committed to Christ worth forever and ever?

Ministers may preach 100 sermons annually for over 40 years. I asked my family if I should continue blogging and they suggested I continue. So we will go on. My goal was to blog twice a week or 102 blogs in a year. Over this past year there have been approximately 5,000 hits or about 95 per week. One year ago, I could not have imagined that I would be writing the following blog.

Being an investment advisor since 1987 I have had a glimpse of what creates needs in most people. If I were to ask 100 people what their main need was, I probably would get 85% to respond that it was financial. If you were to ask any city, state or our government what their greatest need was, they would have to say finances. If I were to ask: “Where do you think Satan might attack most individuals to bring us down”? The answer might be financial.

If I were to ask why are you having financial problems? Many would reply: “I do not make enough”. The real answer is: “I spend more than I make”. We see a number who have come from foreign countries, where they had hardly anything, within years they became financially independent. Their needs are much less than the needs of most Americans. Therefore, they are more inclined to save and invest because they always had excess money at the end of each month.

Let’s assume you may be one of those who are having real financial problems. You are praying constantly for God to meet your need. You realize that it doesn’t seem God is answering your prayers. Is God punishing you for not being a good steward by not answering your prayers or is He doing what may be best for you? Sometimes it takes a crisis in our lives before we change our behavior. Assume that God meets your needs and bails you out. How long might it be before you get back into the same financial mess?

We found out when credit was easy, people were borrowing on their homes to pay off their credit cards. Once their debts were paid off they began charging again just like before. Did they learn anything at all? They learned that they owed more on their homes than they are now worth.

Does anyone ever remember buying a new car on credit and having the Holy Spirit try to suggest you buy a used one? You ignored Him and went ahead and made the purchase. How many of us realize that this is exactly what Satan wants us to do? Are we at our best when we are stressed out because of debt?

What the world is going through right now might be the best thing that could have happened. Recent news says that Moody’s is warning that the Treasury’s AAA rating is in jeopardy. We are told there could be a possible run on our dollar and that we may be headed for hyperinflation. The rumor is that there will be a national sales tax coming soon. There is a possibility that they will raise the retirement age on Social Security. Most are aware of the financial condition of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. (PIG-IS)

When all of this is in place, hopefully Christians will realize the need for prayer. We are going the opposite direction our Christian founders had envisioned. We had better get our personal finances under control and ask God to help us focus on living according to His will.

A number of people were asked: “What would you rather have—$50 today or $100 a year from today”. The majority chose $50 today. They then were asked—“What would you rather have $50 in five years or $100 in six years. Most chose to have $100 in six years. Take away the opportunity for instant gratification and people chose the alternative that paid the most. It tells us, most care more about today than they do about the future. As a financial advisor I have learned that many people under the age of fifty have little concern for retirement. By that age it becomes difficult to change one’s standard of living and begin investing adequately to provide the assets necessary for one’s future. Worldly things are immediate and heavenly things are far into the future. Yet, future rewards can be far greater than anything we can gain from the world when you consider eternity.

Colossians 3:1 2 – “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” NLT

We all realize how difficult it is to focus on Christ and heavenly things. Our concerns are about family, job, finances, relationships and many other distractions. Paul tells us to set our hearts on things above and not on earthly things. Yet the world is trying to do everything possible to get our attention and follow their ways. If we don’t have an RV, computer, a camera, IPod, Xbox, a good home, a new car and eat out regularly we are just not with what is going on around us. What is more important, keeping up with the ways of the world or setting our sights on heavenly things?

God knew that life was going to be filled with temptations and at times we would have struggles. Part of this conflict is caused by our self-centered nature with which we were born. However, He has provided a way for us to confront the world’s temptations and live as He had intended for a person to live. He by His grace provided for each of us to be saved through Jesus Christ. He then promised to place His Spirit into our lives to check us and give us guidance. Upon receiving salvation it requires each of us to accept the responsibility of living our lives patterned after the example Christ set. Not everyone is willing to be held accountable and accept that responsibility. In many cases new Christians are completely unaware of what living according to God’s will actually requires. Too often they continue to live as if nothing happened and requires little change.

This is one reason Scripture tells us that God knew we could not live a pure and holy life without the Holy Spirit in each of our lives. Having received the Holy Spirit in most cases it becomes a slow process of going from the world ways to God ways. Naturally we must determine how to live God’s way and what is God’s will. Our interests and desires must become His interest and desires. This is why studying the Bible becomes so important. We are told that our goal is to have the mind of Christ. We must be willing to put material and temporary things into their proper perspective. There is nothing wrong with having material things but are we willing to share them with others?

Matthew 6:24 –“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

I Timothy 6:10 – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

If we make material things, such as money, our god we will never have enough and no matter how much we earn, it will never be sufficient. Money does not have to be your god to plan ahead and in particular plan for retirement. Otherwise, without a solid financial plan, either the government or our children will need to support us in retirement. Some will need $40,000 annually to meet their standard of living and others will need $150,000. The question is not how much we need but what will we be spending it on.

We must ask ourselves—what must we sacrifice now, on this earth, in preparing for eternity? Are we living as if this is all there is and we better enjoy it while we are here? Or, are we considering that after death we shall have a glorified body that will not be influenced by evil. We will have positive thoughts and ideas. We will never have a desire that will not be met. We will live in a controlled climate with no pain or sickness. Have we checked our priorities lately?

It is not easy to give up something we have been doing our entire lives. Becoming a Christian and changing the way we have been living is like asking an addict to stop “cold turkey” their addiction without help and on their own. God knew most could not do it by themselves. This is why we have been given the Holy Spirit. Yet, how many Christians recognize that the Holy Spirit is within them? How long after becoming a Christian should we give up our sinful habits and negative attitudes?

Our goal must be to start developing more faith, patience and enough self-control to resist temptations. We are to become gentle, kind and good to others. We are to share our love and in return we shall receive joy and peace into our hearts. Do we want to live being discontented, not finding anything right and consistently pointing out everything that is wrong? Or, living the will of God? Do we want God’s support or to live life on our own?

Over the years I have been blessed to know and work with thousands of people. Never have I met two that were exactly alike. I have two cousins who are identical twins and are extremely different. There are some people that I gravitated to more than others. Some individuals do things with a passion, they are not afraid of working hard and they really seem to enjoy what they are doing. These are people that have fun and enjoy life. It has nothing to do with looks, how wealthy they may be, or how they were raised. In fact, many are just as average as an average person can become.

Typically, most people that I have known appear to struggle with life’s problems and circumstances. Seldom do I see laughter and a passion for living life to its fullest. I must admit that passion and joy can be hidden. Within myself there is a different person than you may see on the outside. I hope that is true of others. Too many Christians seem to live an unhappy or possibly an uninteresting life. Inside I have that joy and peace that comes from faith and trusting in God’s promises.

If we were to ask a person why they seemed to be so grim, they probably would answer, “If you knew the circumstances that I am going through you would find it difficult to have a positive attitude.” Yet, the Bible is filled with illustrations of individuals having far greater difficulties than we have but, seemed to be filled with joy. What made them so different?

The Bible tells us the greatest commandment is to love. I recently wrote: the more we love God the more we have a tendency to pray. The least amount of time we spend praying indicates a less amount of love we have for God. And the more we love God the greater are our chances of loving others. According to Scripture when we are to be judged by God it will be by how much we love. Why is love so important? The result of our love will come the passion so desperately needed to succeed and the joy that is the basis for living life as God intended.

Philippians 1:3 – 4 – “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy,” (NLT) Paul has a love for the Philippians and thinks of them often. He finds it a joy to pray for them. Again, how important is love? It is apparent that our passions and joy in life come from our ability to love. If we love what we do it is easy to become passionate and enjoy what we are accomplishing. The majority of employees I have witnessed worked because they needed a job to provide for their needs. Did they have a good sense of humor? Did they appear to enjoy life? Did they have a love for their job? Did they have a passion for what they were doing?

So who is it over the years that we remember most? We are attracted to those who we would like to emulate. They live life to the fullest, have fun and are full of joy. Shouldn’t we as Christians be these kinds of people? It is those who we will always remember the most. Yet, if you have lived as a Christian for any extended period you probably find many sad and pessimistic Christians. Have you ever wondered why? It is likely that they have allowed circumstances to determine who they are rather than striving to become Christ-like. If we live as the world lives we can take on the world’s image. Thus, the consequence of living as the world lives is to see all of the negatives and problems that evil presents and become a part of it. What benefit would that be, when in its place we can have passion and joy.

Most of us know of a Cinderella story. Once upon a time, I knew a young lady, with a very limited chance of succeeding, actually far surpassing everyone’s expectations. At one of our stores we hired this lady in her thirties that had come out of a very abusive marriage. After a time she remarried and with her new husband and children moved to our city. We hired her to work in our shipping-receiving department. She was shy and had a somewhat shaky self-image. In spite of all this, she was hard working. It was her willingness to chip in wherever needed that caught my attention. I invited her to attend our weekly sales meetings. Attending the meetings meant that some of her work would pile up while she was absent, making her job harder. She was not ordered to attend, but by doing so she showed initiative

She began attending the meetings and as she learned, her enthusiasm grew. Then a suppressed personality began to emerge. Instead of being quiet and reserved, she became increasingly outgoing and self-confident. I promoted her to a full-time salesperson and she excelled in the job. Her industriousness had not lessened and now she had become gracious and helpful with customers. Rarely had I encountered someone changing so drastically. I was so impressed that I suggested that she take a commission job with the possibility of doubling her income. Her initial response was panic. She explained how she and her husband were struggling financially and she was in no position to take any financial risk. On commission, if you sold nothing you would receive about one-third of what she was making. One week without an adequate paycheck could result in a financial catastrophe. After a short period of time the teaching-nurturing training she had gone through was adequate for her to take this next step in her career. She accepted the job. Eighteen months later she was my top commission salesperson. Later I made her manager of our furniture department. She was my Cinderella lady. All of our staff saw where she had come from and what she had done for our store. Her success was challenging to others. The store was a relatively new store in a shopping center that had been very unprofitable when I arrived. When I left it was one of the most profitable small stores in our region. People can and do make a difference. Later this lady moved to Alaska. I was told she was managing one of the largest furniture stores in that state.

I tell this story because it was kind of what happened to me. I had no purpose in life and had no sense of direction. Then a miracle took place in my life after being discharged from the Navy. I accepted Christ as my Savior and received the Holy Spirit. My whole perspective and attitude changed. I now had purpose and a desire to improve my life by getting a Christian education. From the day I became a Christian I have been continually blessed. It may be that I accepted the promise that God wants us to be successful and achieve. When we realize that God adopts us into His family and He truly loves us and wants what is best for us, our whole demeanor can change. That doesn’t mean we can’t fail. Nor do hazards and setbacks need not overwhelm us. However, with the Holy Spirit’s help we can become a completely different person. We can go through life as a witness for Christ or we can be self-serving. Being a committed Christian means: regardless of what we are going through we can continue to remain positive and trusting. We can become more Christ-like in whatever we are doing. Do people look at us and see that we our giving 100% of what we are capable of doing in whatever situation we are involved? Christians, guided by the Holy Spirit, must be positive examples so that others can see Christ in us.

Do you want to become more successful and satisfied? Read the Bible and live as we are told to live. It is not that difficult if we are obedient and can follow directions. Or are we inclined to put something together on Christmas morning without reading what parts go where? Once we foul everything up and make a mess of it we then get out the directions. Too many Christians are not interested in following directions. They end up with the same results that they had putting toys together—a mess of their life. Get out the Bible—the manual for living. Your Father owns the world and you are a very important member of His family. He knows what is best for you and He personally has left you with instructions.

Ephesians 1- 13 – ”And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,” If you have believed and have accepted Christ as your Savior you have received the Holy Spirit. Many Christians may find it difficult to believe they have the Holy Spirit because He is not visible or can not be felt. Is there a way to know without any doubt that you have received the Holy Spirit? If we know for sure that we have the Holy Spirit we are assured that we will go to Heaven and we will have eternal life with God.

There is a test that we can take to prove that the Holy Spirit is in our lives. Here is how we can tell. Since we accepted Christ and received salvation have our lives changed? Are we becoming more Christ-like in our daily living?

Prior to being converted I had spent four years in the Navy. Most of those years I spent overseas. I don’t believe I was a typical sailor but had developed a number of bad habits. However, once I accepted Jesus Christ into my life, my life changed totally. The worldly things I believed were fun and important diminished. I think it can best be described by I Corinthians 13:4 – 7 – Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

I noticed a difference in my heart and started to see a love that became patient and kind. It didn’t happen overnight but it gradually improved. I had a problem with anger and had a short temper. I become more considerate of other people and a lot less judgmental. I developed a desire to be more kind to others.

I found myself overcoming jealousy and had no desire to control others or envy what they had that I didn’t. I don’t believe I was arrogant but as a young person there were times of boasting. As I grew older and realized that people with confidence need not brag that no longer became a problem. It seems people who lacked confidence and struggled with a low self-esteem were having a problem dealing with pride.

Interacting with people over a period of time I learned not to let others provoke me to the point of rudely retaliating. We must never get even with someone doing evil things to us by retaliating by being evil ourselves. God will deal with those types of people. It is not our job.

Love does not rejoice in evil but in the truth. I made it a practice to never lie to anyone. Previously I had a tendency to stretch the truth. I have gone for years without intentionally lying to anyone. I have given out information that I later found was not accurate. It was never done with the intention of deceiving someone.

Love protects, always hopes and always perseveres. My love chooses to trust and believe the best in people. Often times people have disappointed me. Over the years of working with thousands of people I have learned to realize that people come from different backgrounds with different temperaments and personalities. In most cases they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with.

The final test question: Is there someone whom I love very much? How often do I think about that person or persons? Do I think about them often or continually? How much do I love God? Do I think about Him more than just through the weekend service? If I don’t think about Him often or continually it may indicate just how much or how little my love is for Him. Am I meeting the commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

I now must ask myself this question: “Could I have changed or in the process of changing this much without the Holy Spirit being within me”? Could I have had unconditional love prior to my conversion? The answer would be: “Never in a million years”.

It is now your turn. Take the test. Since being saved have you noticed any change in how you live and do you now love differently? Then ask yourself: “Could you have made the changes without the assistance of the Holy Spirit?” If you passed the test you can be assured of eternal life with Christ. Don’t you now feel more confident where you will spend eternity?