Preparation

A slaughtered, bleeding Lamb, still standing. A dragon sweeping stars out of the sky with its lethal tail. A beast with seven heads and ten horns. Horrific hundred-pound hailstones. Raging seas. Sinking islands and melting mountains. Cities collapsing in the twinkling of an eye. These are some of the images we see when we read the book of Revelation. And tied with these images is the anticipation about the end of this world.
And when we consider the end of the earth, we might consider the time we get here on this earth. Because looking at the few years that each of us has on this planet, our existence isn’t more than a blimp on the radar of time. In fact, the entire human race isn’t more than a slight hiccup in terms of time from the beginning to the end of time as we know it. And that can get a little confusing, but my point is how should we consider this brief time on this earth?
A few weeks back I wrote about our individual purpose of life was to worship and love God. And that should be our highest aim. But, why can’t we just worship and love him in heaven, which is our ultimate goal, instead of spending a few years here on earth? In fact, I think that sounds so wonderful to simply have been born and lived in heaven eternally and not experience life on this planet. It seems being born into paradise was God’s intent with Adam and Eve.
So what’s the point of life here? Well, we know that through Jesus we can be brought back to that perfectly heaven existence. And it’s through him and our worship and love of God that will eventually lead us to eternal life with him.
So, I propose that we consider this our preparation for eternity. Maybe a kind of probationary period before we move into the eternal bliss of heaven. In fact, that seems to be what Jesus is telling us when he talks about the Kingdom of God (Heaven). Jesus, in a parable about stewardship, tells of a master who distributes his wealth to his servants. As each servant chooses how to care for this money, two of them earn money while the third simply hides it. When the master returns, he tells the two who have earned money, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matt 25.21, 23).
Our purpose on earth is to prepare now for life forever with God. It’s what all the teachings, commands and lessons that God gives us are all about. My prayer is we look at our lives now as though we were already living in heaven with God. God bless.