Not At Home

Life is fragile.  I'm reminded of the scripture found in James 4:14.  "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."  I think of where I am in my life.  I have passed the 50 year mark, so I'm at least over half way through assuming I die of natural causes. However none of us know the exact day we will be taken from this world.  There are many small children, teenagers, and young adults who unfortunately are taken from us early.  I'm not trying to be dark, but there's a reality we all must face and it is our last day. 

When I think of that final day for myself, I envision people standing over me and saying things about me.  I can hear it now - my daughter would say, "they didn't get her hair right".  Some might say, "it doesn't look like her".  Others might try to be nice and say, "she looks so natural".  Morbid, you might say I would write about this?  The reality is even though people will stand over me.  My body might be there.  But guess what?  I'm not at home!  The body you see will only be the shell that covered who I really am...my heart and soul, will be in eternity with Jesus. Check out this scripture found in 2 Corinthians 4:16  "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."  When this body is wasted away on the outside, inwardly I am renewed!  If you've ever lost a loved one and stood over them, you know what I'm talking about.  The person you loved isn't anywhere near that body.  The scripture found in 2 Corinthians 5:8, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" was never as real to me as when my father died.  We all have a soul inside of us which is who we are.  When we die, that soul leaves the body.

The reason I'm writing this is to remind everyone that when you die you're "not at home" in your body any longer.  This raises the question, "If you aren't at home, where are you?"  We will all be somewhere - Heaven or Hell.  The Bible teaches us there is only one way to Heaven and it is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  Jesus died on the cross so we could spend eternity with our Heavenly Father.  John 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."  Let's think back to how we started - we are all just a vapor.  Be certain when it is time for you to "not be home", you know where you are going.  John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."

I pray I see you there!