I am always amazed, but less often amused, by the way some people tend to create an afterlife in their own image or from their own imagination. Even Ivy League-educated people will sometimes express the most speculative and cavalier attitudes toward the critical issue of where they are bound after death. For example, USA Today reported a startling quote from Michael Bloomberg, the three-consecutive term Mayor of New York City and the 16th richest person in the world. He was musing on the ‘pearly gates’ in a recent interview when he said, “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place.” Though nobody knows exactly what goes on in heaven, it’s probably not like a New York City nightclub where you blow past the bouncer because you are a big deal, a high roller or a power broker with only a few peers. Bloomberg, even if only half serious, is in deep trouble with that attitude.
James 4:6, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord; he will lift you up.”
Philippians 2:7,8,9-11, “[Jesus] made himself nothing…humbled himself… God exalted him to the highest place… that… every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…”
Pray with me… Father, the character trait You most desire to see in us is the one that was dynamically lived out by Jesus… from his birth in a barn to his death on a cross … It is humility. We pray for a Bethlehem/Calvary core to our faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Ken
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