What Makes it All Worth It!

By David Ettinger

Keep Hanging On
As Christians, the world will call us “haters,” “bigots,” “intolerable,” and mock our “cave-man” mentality. It will hurt. It will challenge our faith.

The culture will shun, ridicule, and vilify us, but we must stand fast knowing “there is laid up for †a crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). In other words, there is so much more than this earthly life awaiting us, making the trials of this world – our “light affliction” – as seeming “for but a moment” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Another reason to keep hanging on is that we as believers remain on the Earth as visitors with a specific purpose. The apostle Paul tells us: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

In other words, though we reside here on Earth, we are not citizens of our dying planet. We are here to do the “good works” with which God has endowed us from before the beginning of time (Ephesians 2:10).

Because we are here for but a short time (compared to eternity), we are to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

What Makes it All Worth It
But what really makes all the trials of this world so worth it is the promise Jesus vowed to us following our sojourn here:

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3, emphasis added).

And there it is in all its splendor: What makes all the trials and tribulations of this world so worth it is that when this life is over, we will spend eternity with the Lord Jesus!

Oh for that day!

David Ettinger is a writer/editor at Zion’s Hope, Inc., and has written for Zion’s Fire magazine since its inception in 1990.

Tagged: Christianity, Eternal life, Eternnity With God, God's Grace, God's promises, Heaven, Loving God, the New Testament

Posted in: Bible study, Bible teaching, Christ's Deity, Christianity, Comfort, Devotional, Drawing Close to God, God's Divine Plans, God's Faithfulness, God's Grace, God's promises, God's Provision, Grateful to God, Heaven, Jesus My Savior, Life After Death, Loving God, Making a Point, New Testament, Obeying God, Resting in Jesus, Salvation in Christ, The Afterlife