THE PRIZE (REVISITED)

" Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ..."(Philippians 3:8)

I want to speak to you today from my heart. I know we have warned of coming terrible events, and those can be frightening. I know we have spoken of the dangers of sin, and how scary that can be. But I want to speak to you about Heaven, about seeing Jesus Christ face to face, and feeling his embrace and love for us for the first time.

Can you imagine, after going thru all the hard trials of life, after suffering thru pain, loss of friends and loved ones, personal loss of almost everything, persecution because of your allegiance, you pass thru death. And as your passing, you probably feel the pain of death on your mortal body, but suddenly, your eyes begin seeing the world you’ve known peel away to a new dimension. As you stand there even the light that is shining feels different, it makes you feel joy and happiness by itself. You look around and a city stands before you, bright, glittering with color, some you recognize, other colors and the stones it is made of your eyes have never seen before, these colors and stones didn’t exist on Earth. Then, you see outlines in the distance that resemble people, multitudes in the city and without, and you head toward them.

You begin seeing people you had lost contact with because of life’s events or because death took them on, friends and people that were special to you. You see them again and your heart and mind leaps with joy and energy reuniting with them again. Then you see your family, Mom, Dad, a brother or sister, oh how you had grown accustomed to feeling the pain of loosing them, being without them. You see a son or daughter that was taken from you prematurely. They are coming to you now, whole and happy, free of age and pain, with brand new bodies, smiling at you, and you embrace again, feeling their touch and love and the emptiness in your heart melts away.

Suddenly, you are feeling joy and peace like never before, even stronger then you had been feeling moments ago. Tears begin to stream down your face uncontrollably, you can’t stop it, but your heart is pounding and you feel the weight of you life, the cares, the worries, fall at your feet. You didn’t realize how heavy your life had been on your shoulders till just then, and love, powerful, majestic and full of acceptance and forgiveness fills your soul and all around you. A figure, bright like a million stars, begins to coalesce in front of you. It is Jesus, he opens his arms out to you, smiling. You hear a voice that speaks with authority and at the same time gentleness, like a million voices in one saying,” welcome home my child, well done and I love you very much”. You know then, everything has been worth it all. All the pain, trouble and trials cannot compare to what you have now. With this knowledge, you would go thru it all over again to win this moment with Jesus.

I ask you, what could be worth losing this? What could be better in the world to turn back to? What on earth could be worth giving this up for? Don’t quit, don’t give up! Everything will be worth it when you win the prize, Jesus all to yourself. Hang on! He is coming.