Last week when I preached I challenged people to test themselves to see what they put their hope in. The two tests were these: First, if you knew you were going to die or that Jesus was coming back tonight, what response would that elicit? Often, I think the response is, "That's great, but... there is so much I want to still do in life. There is (fill in the blank)." I know this because this was my response for the longest time. While it is innocent enough, it belies the fact that we are actually hoping more in whatever we feel sadness for missing in life rather than in Christ.
The second test is one I have used on here before. If you got to heaven and it was everything you ever dreamed of, the streets of gold, the perfect bodies that never decayed or died, past friends and family, all the gifts of Christ you could imagine but Jesus was not there would you miss Him at all? You see, it is possible to hope in heaven and the gifts of God and not in God Himself.
These two litmus tests have blown me up this week. I have an idolatrous heart and the world is an endless idol factory. Thus the admonitions in scripture over and over to hold loosely to the things of this world and cling tightly to Christ. We cannot serve both. It is one thing to have mental conviction, and many have it. It is another thing to have hope in Christ, and I am finding more and more that fewer and fewer people have it.
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