TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 11:16
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. - Philippians 3:20
TODAY IN THE WORD
One Bible scholar says that in the New Testament world, Roman citizenship “made persons equal in judicial rights to the inhabitants of Rome.” Roman emperors could grant citizenship to cities, provinces, or individuals who served the Roman empire in some extraordinary way. Along with judicial standing, the privileges of Roman citizenship included exemption from punishments such as scourging and crucifixion, and the right to appeal to Caesar.

Paul knew his audience when he used the example of citizenship to illustrate to the Philippians the Christian’s intimate connection to heaven. Philippi was a Roman colony whose people were citizens of the empire. Since this was such a prized status, Paul’s statement about our heavenly citizenship would certainly have grabbed his readers’ attention. Heavenly citizenship made persons equal in judicial rights to the inhabitants of heaven!

Yesterday we learned that we already have a heavenly home Today we discover that our heavenly “papers” are all in good order. Our spiritual status means that everything we have and hope for in the future comes from heaven.

First and foremost among these blessings is Jesus Himself. God wants us to have our eyes and hearts set on heaven because that’s where Jesus is, and that’s where He’s coming from when He returns for us. When that happens, we will receive new bodies that will enable us to live with Him.

The place of our citizenship is where our home and hopes are. A person may travel in a foreign country, but there’s nothing like coming home. For Christians, this earth is the foreign country we’re traveling through on our way to heaven.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We can sing, talk, and even dream about heaven. But we also need to realize that since our citizenship is in another place, we don’t really own anything permanently here on earth.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. - 2 Corinthians 4:17
TODAY IN THE WORD
Dave Dravecky lost his major league baseball career, and then his pitching arm, to cancer. But his faith in Christ touches countless lives.

Dravecky says a friend once asked him to imagine a scene in heaven in which God shows him two rooms--one filled with people and the other comparatively empty. The first room contains the people touched by Dravecky’s suffering, while the second room shows the influence he would have had if he had stayed healthy and enjoyed a long career. Then comes the clincher in this imaginary scene. God offers Dravecky the chance to go back and enjoy a cancer-free life and career, knowing he will have far less eternal impact.

“How could I choose the second room?” Dave Dravecky asks. Then he goes on to affirm that knowing what he knows now, he would not go back even if he could.

That’s a heavenly perspective. That’s what it means to fix our eyes on the things of eternity instead of on the temporary stuff around us. Only people who understand the unseen value of heaven are able to turn away from the things that can easily be seen and desired.

What suffering believers like Dave Dravecky are saying to us is that the rewards of heaven are worth any cost, any sacrifice God calls on us to make. That’s the testimony of Paul, too, and his authority to speak on this subject is beyond question (read 2 Cor. 11:23-33). Paul’s life and ministry were laced with suffering. But when he compared all his troubles to the reward waiting for him in heaven, he realized there was no comparison.

Don’t misunderstand what the apostle is saying here. Paul is not telling us to pretend that it doesn’t hurt when it does. He knew the temptation of discouragement that comes when we face hard times. He wasn’t dismissing the reality of suffering when he described his own troubles as “light and momentary.” He was simply being truthful in light of the reality of heaven.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Do you know anyone who, like Dave Dravecky, has a shining testimony for Christ despite severe testing and suffering?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 103:19-2
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. - Psalm 103:21
TODAY IN THE WORD
Whoever said that being a Christian isn’t a spectator sport was right on target. Sports fans may sit back and watch while a few well-trained participants lead them in an experience called a game, but in the body of Christ every member is a part of the action. When it comes to things like Christian service and worship, we are not the audience. God is.

There aren’t any box seats or bleachers held for us in heaven, either. We’ll be active for eternity, and one of the things we will participate in is praise. The Bible teaches that heaven is characterized by an endless flow of blessing offered up to God who “has established his throne in heaven” (v. 19).

Praise begins in heaven and flows from there outward to all creation. The psalmist David knew this and structured his praise in this psalm accordingly, like an inverted pyramid which moves from highest heaven to earth’s inhabitants. God inhabits the top of the praise structure. From there David calls on God’s “mighty ones” (v. 20), probably referring to the higher orders of angels, to praise Him.

Then the pyramid narrows a little more as the psalmist moves to God’s “heavenly hosts,” His servants, a possible reference to other angels who occupy a lower rank in heaven. They, too, are called to a ministry of praise.

Next comes the praise that God’s creation owes to Him. Verse 23 brings praise out of heaven to earth, since we are part of God’s works. The object of praise is the same, the Lord of heaven and earth, but now the participants include every being in creation.

At the bottom of this “praise pyramid” is David himself. After working his way inward and downward from God’s throne to the angels in heaven to the created world, David arrives at the individual level when he says, “Praise the LORD, O my soul” (v. 22). He knew what his response should be to the outpouring of praise rising up to God from creation.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One encouraging fact about heaven is that we don’t have to wait until we get there to begin enjoying its blessings. We can have a sense of heaven in our lives today through our union with Christ and the daily presence of the Holy Spirit.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:1-9
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven... - 2 Corinthians 5:1
TODAY IN THE WORD
Yevgeny Meshchersky is a Russian prince living on his family’s estate 35 miles south of Moscow. The problem is that there isn’t much left of the once-stately property. Mr. Meshchersky’s family lost the estate after the revolution of 1917. Worse yet, Communists demolished the palace--built in 1775--to make rubble for building a nearby road. In 1996, Mr. Meshchersky and his family moved back onto the 64-acre property as squatters. Today they are living in the rundown gate house next to the palace’s remains, trying to get the Russian government to recognize their ancestral claim to the estate.

In many ways, the Meshchersky family’s plight is one that all of us share. We’re also living in a rundown building as “squatters.” The estate we’re talking about is our human body, which Paul likens to a worn-out tent that will be taken down and put away at death.

But that’s where the similarity ends between today’s illustration and our text. While Mr. Meshchersky’s estate will probably never be restored to its former glory, as Christians we are going to be part of a glorious “urban renewal” project someday. God is going to clear away the decayed rubble of our earthly bodies and give us a brand new one, what Paul calls our “eternal house in heaven.”

This wonderful transformation will occur when Christ returns and calls us to Himself (1 Thess. 4:13-18). That’s a hope worth looking forward to, even longing for.

Paul’s longing for his new body was obvious. He groaned under the pain and limitations of life in the “tent” of his human body which had been battered by years of suffering and strained by the intensity of his ministry. We learned last week that Paul was willing to stay and minister to those who needed him (see May 3), but his clear preference was to be at home with Christ in heaven (v. .
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Like Paul, our goal should be to please Christ by the way we live daily.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 24:7-11
Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. - Psalm 24:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
The ancient Greeks knew how to heap glory on the winners of their Olympic events. The hero was crowned with the winner’s wreath, his children were guaranteed a free education, and he was exempted from paying taxes the rest of his life. He also returned home in triumph by means of a curious ceremony. A hole was made in the wall surrounding the returning hero’s home, and he entered through the hole. Then a bronze plaque was mounted in the hole as a permanent reminder of the athlete’s victory.

This ancient ceremony helps to illustrate the event being described in Psalm 24, which some scholars believe is a prophecy of Christ’s glorious entry into heaven following His ascension. But whether the scene of Psalm 24 is past or future, we do see another aspect of our future home today. Heaven is a place of amazing, incomparable glory.

All human events fall short of depicting this glory, although a royal coronation or ticker-tape parade are examples of ways to shower a special person with honor and glory. The language David uses to describe the entrance of this King into heaven reflects the way a victorious king would enter Jerusalem.

The doors would be thrown open, and the gate through which the king was to ride into the city would be “lifted up,” or raised, to symbolize that the entrance wasn’t high enough to accommodate the glory of this special person.

Like an earthly king who had been victorious in battle, the King of heaven triumphed over Satan, sin, and death in His resurrection and ascension. Christ is still the King of glory today, and in heaven we will be greeted by a scene more glorious than anything we could imagine. John’s vision of the risen and exalted Christ in Revelation 5:6-14 gives us a taste of what it will be like when we see Jesus.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Glory is such an intrinsic quality of heaven that the word “glory” itself is often used as a synonym for heaven.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 17:1-9
We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14b
TODAY IN THE WORD
Back in 1985, a fan leaving New York’s Yankee Stadium after a baseball game was startled to find himself looking into the face of a former U.S. president.

The fan was going down a ramp at the stadium when he noticed a sudden movement to his left. He looked over and saw a pair of locked glass doors a few feet away, behind which a group of men in suits were leading another man down a hallway. The man in the middle glanced out through the doors, and the fan recognized him as former president Richard Nixon. It even seemed that Nixon caught the fan’s eye for a second and smiled.

The episode was over in a few seconds, as Nixon’s Secret Service bodyguards whisked him along. But the baseball fan never forgot the incident.

In much the same way, Peter, James, and John never forgot a special event in their lives--witnessing the transfiguration of their Lord Jesus Christ by the glory of heaven. “We were with him on the sacred mountain” Peter wrote years later (2 Pet. 1:18). John says they saw Christ’s glory.

It’s hard to imagine a more impressive sight--a face that “shone like the sun” (v. 2) and clothes that were transparently white. That combination of glory and purity would be unforgettable, and each of us as believers long to see Christ in all the fullness of His majesty.

This was not a case of Jesus taking on a temporary appearance, but just the opposite. Jesus’ humanity was momentarily dimmed so that His true glory and radiance could be seen. Peter, James, and John, like the Israelites at Sinai, knew that they were in the consuming presence of a holy God (see Ex. 19:26-19).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
John wrote, “When [Jesus] appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2b).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Revelation 4:1-11
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things. - Revelation 4:11a
TODAY IN THE WORD
How much is a person worth? A company called Autographs of Distinction has determined what some former U.S. presidents are worth--at least in terms of their signatures. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are first and second in autograph value: $12,500 and $9,995, respectively. Thomas Jefferson is a close third, with his autograph valued at $7,495.

We use all kinds of yardsticks to try to determine a person’s true worth. Ascribing worth to someone isn’t a modern idea, however, because that’s the basic meaning behind the term “worship.” This word evolved from the earlier term “worth-ship,” which meant to attach value or worth to a person or object.

God is of infinite value, and when we worship Him as the supreme and only Lord, we are giving Him the worth that He is due. That’s why the Bible instructs us, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness” (Ps. 29:2).

Like everything else we do here on earth, our worship is less than perfect. But heaven is a place of unending, perfect worship of God the Father and of the Lamb. There we will be led in worship by at least two groups of beings.

That’s the picture of heaven we are given in Revelation 4. John saw what he described as twenty-four elders and four living creatures. Although we can’t say with certainty, the twenty-four elders are generally thought of as human beings rather than angels. Their number may represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the church--all of redeemed humanity, in other words.

But regardless of whether the elders are human or angelic, their major occupation in heaven is worshiping God. They take their cue from the living creatures, clearly angelic beings who are described in terms very similar to the seraphs in the prophet Isaiah’s vision (Isa. 6:2-3, see the May 2 study).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Passages of Scripture like Revelation 4 help us to understand why the Bible teaches that worship is to be a way of life for God’s people, not just an event we attend every Sunday morning.

This means that the place where you meet with God for your daily devotions is really a worship center. One way to make this truth a more vivid reality is to start each day by thanking God for His holy

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart...since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. - Colossians 3:23-24
TODAY IN THE WORD
Margaret Neely Dillon was a pioneer missionary who went to Central America in 1893. In 1896, she married H. C. Dillon in Costa Rica, and the couple moved to Honduras, where H. C. died the next year. Despite Margaret’s loss, she continued in the work of Christ until her death in 1913, “even during times of persecution and illness,” according to author Mary Hammack in A Dictionary of Women in Church History. Hammack goes on to say that Margaret Dillon “left a church firmly established [in Honduras] and a witness in numerous places in Central America.”

The church’s ministry over the centuries has been enriched by the legacy of faithful women like Margaret Dillon. God will bless and reward her commitment to the gospel, for Jesus said that God will reward even the smallest act of service done in His name (Matt. 10:42). Let’s talk about the eternal rewards awaiting God’s servants in heaven--because our future home is a place of rewards.

Today’s passages are a well-known part of Paul’s teaching on this subject. His emphasis in 1 Corinthians is on the kinds of Christian service that do and do not earn God’s reward. In our second passage, Paul focuses on the heavenly event during which our work will be evaluated and rewards given out.

The apostle was qualified to teach us about rewards because he served as the primary “builder” who laid the church’s foundation by preaching Christ. It’s possible to build two kinds of structures on this foundation: either a sturdy and enduring building or a spiritual “chicken coop” that won’t stand up to the Lord’s test.

The rewards will be presented at “the judgment seat of Christ,” an evaluation in heaven for every believer. This is “the Day” Paul referred to earlier (1 Cor. 3:13), a time when the real motives and purposes behind what we have done as Christians will be revealed.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We have solid clues in Scripture concerning the kind of service Christ rewards, and the kind that will ultimately go up in smoke.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 2:1-12
O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. - Isaiah 37:16
TODAY IN THE WORD
The secular world often becomes dreamy, and even overly sentimental, when the subject of heaven comes up. That’s because the world’s concept of heaven is based more on popular culture than on the truth of God’s Word.

Although it’s true that our eternal home is a place of love, comfort, peace, joy, and reunion, there’s another aspect of heaven we need to consider. The Bible teaches that heaven is God’s command center, His “war room.” Heaven is divine headquarters for the cosmic spiritual war waged between the forces of God and the forces of Satan.

Many Bible scholars believe that Isaiah 14:12-15 describes the original fall of Satan. Spiritual warfare actually began in heaven, when the exalted angel Lucifer rebelled and tried to unseat God from His throne (Isa. 14:12-15). Lucifer was defeated, judged, and expelled from heaven, and now as Satan he leads his demonic forces in continued, futile resistance against God.

But since Satan can’t attack God directly, he stirs up rebellion against God in the hearts of people. Psalm 2 gives us the big picture of this spiritual warfare, and leaves us in no doubt about the outcome.

People with political or economic power may be tempted to echo the rebellious sentiments in verse 3. They may trust their own power and resources, and may even mock the idea of a God that controls their way. But God the Father, “the One enthroned in heaven” (v. 4), scoffs at this foolishness.

God certainly controls the events on earth now. And Scripture tells us that one day God’s King and Son will rule the earth “with an iron scepter” (v. 9, see also Rev. 19:15). When He fully establishes His kingdom, Jesus will ride out of heaven as a Conqueror on a white horse, exercising His sovereign rule over all the nations.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
There’s nothing more dangerous than being at war, and even under attack, and not even realizing it.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 7:11-17
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you. - Isaiah 66:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
Dwight L. Moody’s mother, Betsey Holton Moody, was a woman of remarkable strength and character. In 1841, when Dwight was just four years old, Betsey’s husband Edwin was stricken with a sudden illness and died. One month later Mrs. Moody gave birth to twins, giving the youthful widow nine children to care for.

Despite severe poverty she kept the family together, and Dwight evidently loved his mother deeply. Her own faith in Christ was confirmed later in life, when in 1876, she stood for prayer in response to Moody’s invitation after one of his messages. From that point until her death in 1896, Betsey Moody’s influence for the Lord was deeply felt by those around her.

On this special day set aside to honor mothers, we aren’t talking about heaven as such. But there’s heaven-sent comfort in Luke’s account of Jesus’ power over death and of His tender compassion for a grieving mother.

Although we don’t often hear much about the widow of Nain, her story was deemed important enough to be included in the gospels, and thus it demands our attention. This wonderful story especially deserves consideration on Mother’s Day.

Jesus may have been in familiar territory, since Nain was only about ten miles from Nazareth. The sorrow of this mother for her only son must have been very raw since the Jews conducted their funerals within twenty-four hours of death. This woman probably had less than a full day to come to grips with her son’s death.

Notice Jesus’ deep compassion for this grief-stricken mother. His comforting words to her, “Don’t cry,” remind us of His care for His own mother even in the middle of His agony on the cross (Jn. 19:25-27).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
It’s become a Today in the Word tradition to pray for mothers on their special day.

As you pray, be sure to thank the Lord for the influence of godly mothers in the home, the church, and society. And if you have been blessed with a mother who walked with Christ, offer a prayer of praise for this priceless gift.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
[God] has given us new birth into a living hope...and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. - 1 Peter 1:3-4a
TODAY IN THE WORD
In the classic novel Little Lord Fauntleroy, a young boy living in deep poverty with his mother in America learns that his father was a member of a British noble family. The boy’s grandfather sends for him, and the boy soon finds himself living on a fine estate in England. He is also the heir to the estate, which includes the title of lord.

This is our story as believers. Through Jesus Christ, we have gone from having nothing to having everything: new life, new hope, and an eternal inheritance in heaven that nothing can ruin. It’s this inheritance we want to focus on today.

People who have an inheritance are called heirs. But being an heir only has value if the person leaving the inheritance has something of value to give. We’re in great shape there because the Bible says we are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). This means that all that God has is ours!

Peter says that heaven itself is part of that inheritance, our future home where all that is wrong on earth will be set right and we will enjoy God’s presence forever.

How did we ever get in on something this good? Because God is so good. It cost Him everything--the death of His sinless Son for our sins--to make us His heirs. Jesus paid the price for our salvation on the cross, and His resurrection guaranteed that someday we will come into our full inheritance in heaven.

Here on earth, estates can change in value over time, or even lose value. Buildings and other property that are part of an inheritance can become rundown if they’re not maintained.

But there are no such problems with our inheritance in heaven. Peter used three distinct terms to get his point across. The things that God has in store for those who love Him will never “perish, spoil or fade.”
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Being co-heirs with Jesus Christ means we have an inheritance on reserve in heaven that’s beyond anything we can imagine.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 11:4-7
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. - Psalm 11:4
TODAY IN THE WORD
Whoever first dreamed up the idea for those “court TV” shows is most likely a wealthy person by now. The popularity of these programs seems to be unlimited, and several of the TV judges have become genuine media celebrities. The judges’ colorful personalities are certainly one reason these court dramas are popular. Another reason has to be that people enjoy playing judge themselves as they listen to both sides of a case and debate how they would decide the case.

Daytime courtroom television may seem light-years away from the truth of Psalm 11. But there’s an important connection, which we can summarize in one word: justice. Human beings have a deep-seated thirst for justice, a characteristic that connects us to God who rules from heaven with perfect justice.

This month we’ve read several Scripture passages that talk about heaven as the location of God’s throne. And when God takes His seat on His heavenly throne, things happen. Angels fall down in worship because God is holy, and He dispenses justice as the supreme Judge of the universe.

Today’s verses are definitely about divine justice, but it’s important to see that David closely linked God’s holiness with His justice. These two divine attributes are joined because God’s holiness is the only reliable standard to measure right and wrong.

Sometimes people who are victims of injustice wonder out loud if anybody’s watching “up there.” The unfairness of life in a sinful world can even lead God’s people to doubt His goodness.

But Scripture’s answer to these doubts is that nothing escapes heaven’s attention. God is not only watching the events of earth; He is closely examining every motive and action and executing judgment based on His righteous character. Jeremiah said, God “probe the heart and mind” (Jer. 20:12).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Since we are not perfect, sometimes the line between a desire for justice and revenge can get blurred.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. - 1 Corinthians 15:22
TODAY IN THE WORD
Hannah Hunter Cole left her native Ireland and came to the United States to study at Philadelphia College of Bible in preparation for missionary service. In 1947 she was appointed to serve in western China, where she and her husband worked in evangelism and church planting. But when the Communists gained control of China, the Coles were forced to walk east across the country in order to be allowed to leave. The long march with her small children, the youngest only six months old, left Hannah exhausted. She became ill with meningitis and died in 1951 at the age of 32, a martyr for the cause of Christ.

Was Hannah Hunter Cole’s brief life a tragedy? Not from the standpoint of heaven. Now if there were no resurrection and no future with Christ in heaven, we could make a case for the tragedy and futility of life. That’s the point Paul was making in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, which comes just before today’s Scripture reading. Here he was assuming the position of the religious skeptic who says there is no resurrection.

But the apostle quickly dismissed the skeptic’s argument by declaring, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (v. 20). Then we are given the order of resurrection and the progression of future events that will end in heaven with God being “all in all.” These verses are alive with heavenly certainty and hope. As we saw earlier, the Savior’s resurrection is the guarantee that we who belong to Him will also be raised.

The thought of the final resurrection led Paul to add some important information about the way our future hope will unfold. He looks far ahead to the fulfillment of Christ’s kingdom. After Christ’s reign has brought God’s enemies to their knees, He will hand over creation to God the Father for eternity. And we will share in the entire drama.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We’ve spent more than two weeks talking about the hope of heaven. Today, let’s turn our attention to someone who needs to know Christ and experience eternal hope.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day. - 2 Timothy 4:8a
TODAY IN THE WORD
Alfred Nobel opened his newspaper one morning in 1888 and was shocked to read his own obituary. The fact was that Nobel’s brother had died, and a careless reporter had put the wrong man in the story. The incident left Nobel deeply disturbed for more than the obvious reasons.

Through the erroneous obituary, he saw himself as the world saw him--a wealthy Swedish industrialist whose most enduring legacy was the invention of dynamite. Resolving to do something that would uphold his cherished ideals, Nobel used a portion of his great wealth to establish prizes that would reward people whose work benefited humanity. The Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901, and today they are still considered the most esteemed prizes in the world.

The soul-searching that Alfred Nobel underwent as he reviewed his life is the same kind of self-examination Christians need to make regularly. Paul urged the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5).

All of us are storing up a spiritual legacy of some sort. The goal is to live each day in such a way that when we reach heaven, our service for Christ will pass the test of His judgment seat and He will reward us (see May 12). The rewards are available to us in heaven. It’s up to us to earn them.

Paul was near the end of his life when he wrote to Timothy. Most people become reflective at that point, but it’s obvious from the apostle’s confident statement that he didn’t wait until the end to evaluate his ministry. You can’t fight a good fight, run a solid race, and keep the faith without paying close attention to the way you live.

Paul was constantly aware of the goal he was reaching for and made all of his decisions in light of that goal. Philippians 3:7-14 is a great example of Paul’s self-examination.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Earlier in this same chapter, Paul gave Timothy a very specific example of what it means to serve Christ faithfully and effectively.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 15:1-10
There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. - Luke 15:10
TODAY IN THE WORD
Someone has said that if you really want to know a person’s values, look at the things that bring them joy.

Thanks to Jesus’ wonderful parables in Luke 15, we know one thing that brings heaven joy--the salvation of lost souls. That’s because God values people more than anything else. The occupants of our future home break out in rejoicing each time a sinner is brought to faith in Christ.

The idea of laughter in heaven may sound a bit irreverent. But when we look at the details of this familiar chapter, it’s hard to get around the fact that Jesus was talking about people who threw a party when something lost had been found. And then He compared those parties to the joy in heaven.

Even the setting of Luke 15 suggests a celebration of sorts. The reason Jesus told the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son was that the Pharisees were complaining about His dinner companions (vv. 1-2). Jesus was eating with folks who could never get into the Pharisees’ banquets.

Jesus not only ate with tax collectors and other “sinners,” but He very likely sparked laughter and joy as His spiritually destitute dinner companions heard the good news of salvation. As a matter of fact, in Luke 19:1-10 we have a perfect example of what one of these dinners must have been like. The tax collector Zacchaeus was a sinful man, but the Bible says he received Jesus “gladly.” This was no glum affair. The dinner ended with Zacchaeus’s salvation and Jesus saying, in effect, “This is what I came to do” (see Luke 19:10).

This same joy is evidenced in the story of the shepherd and the woman who lost something valuable. Each portion of the story ends with a party. Even though we didn’t read the rest of the parable, it’s interesting to remember that in the case of the lost son, the celebrating was so loud that the older son could hear the music from a distance (v. 25).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Would we go to as much trouble as the people in the parable to help rescue a lost soul?