No Sell by Date

Expectations of the future have a fair influence on my behavior. As the holidays approach, I get a surge of energy to finish the last work commitments, because the reward is waiting - a lovely time of rest.

If there is nothing exciting waiting in the future, when all you see is flat horizon, people find it difficult to motivate themselves. They simply muddle along and their energy levels remain low. I can understand it. What is there to look forward to? What is there to motivate them? Nothing, and that is why they keep plodding along round and round in a rut.

I suspect that many people living in the Old Testament times did not have much of a vision of the future. They were se constrained by the law that they knew that the chances of freedom were slim.

My feet would have dragged too if I knew that my spirit had a sell by date...

Thank you for Jesus! Thank you that he removed the sell by date on our spirits. Now we can live with the expectation of a wonderful life hereafter:

20... We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. 21He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

Wow, that is really great news. He wants to do it. He can do it. He can renew our old earthly bodies that have a sell by date. Jesus is so powerful that He can recreate our earthly bodies that are made of dust and that will return to dust. He can make those bodies new so that our bodies will be as glorified as his.

Remember, Jesus is our brother and we get the same benefits as He does. One benefit is that we will be equipped with a new body that will have no sell by date. What wonderful news!

Now I wonder if the excitement about these new bodies influences our behavior here on earth. Is there a buzz about the bonus we will receive after this? Is special energy released when I thing about the bonus I'm going to inherit? Do we try to live an obedient life because we are driven by the picture of the new me hereafter?

I must admit that I can't always do this and I know why. I allow my circumstances to steal my picture of the life hereafter. It's human to be affected by the people in our country who are making such a mess, by broken dreams, hurt, pain and all those other energy thieves.

Maybe we should consciously remind ourselves every day that our sell by date has been removed and that we will get a new body. Where we are now is temporary. Life begins after death. Let this realization energise us. Let's storm energised into life out there to go and make a difference wherever we go!

Bible Reading

   Philippians 3:17-21

Refection

What steals your energy?

Does life hereafter give you energy?

What can you do differently?

Prayer

Jesus, I must confess that I take too little energy from our future. You have made it possible for us to be equipped with a glorified body one day, a body just like yours. Wow, what a wonderful gift is waiting for each of us. Let the thought of that motivate us. May it help us to make a real difference here on earth today. Amen

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 By Gerjo Ben Van Der Merwe


Article Source: No Sell by Date