Living For The Future

I think it was the late Waylon Jennings who said, "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!"

Too often, we are just like Waylon when it comes to thinking about the future in a spiritual way. Oh, we take care of heaven...we have come to know the Savior and our ticket is punched and we are on the way...but what about our kids..yep, they know Jesus...and our grandkids...well, most of them do...but what about after that?

What about our future generations. What about 50 years from now when we will be gone and only a distant memory or a picture in a worn out photo album...what about those great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids?

Look at what Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:10-12 "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things."

This blew me away when I realized what it meant. The prophets of the Old Testament...dudes like Moses, Elijah, Malachai, Amos, and even the reluctant ones like Jonah...they did what they did, not fully understanding it all, but so that we would benefit from it. They recorded what they did so that when Jesus came around, the people coulds say, "Yep, this is the ONE, I know from the directions that the prophets gave us in their writings."

Of course, a lot of people missed it...but that is not the prophets fault.

What about us. Are we living in such a way that future generations will be able to turn and point to us and say, "I've embraced Jesus as my Savior because my great-great-great-great-great-great- grandfather lived a life that is still impacting us today!"

I want to run into someone in Heaven, who lived a hundred years from now and have them tell me, "Because you stood for the truth....because you lived a life of ministry....because you followed Jesus....I'm standing here today."

That is my desire. I hope it will be yours as well.

See you there, or in the air
Pastor Dave