Workin' On My Fitness

Cue Fergie... up in the gym... just workin' on her fitness. Okay, this is a terrible opener, but I also think it's kinda funny in my warped sense of humor way, so there ya go. But in all honesty, who is relating to this right now? It's the second week of January, y'all, and those gyms are PACKED! I mean, people are coming out from under allllll the rocks, running to their nearest Rec Center and hitting the treadmills like they're training for the zombie apocalypse. Every year it makes me laugh. Every year it annoys the tar out of me too because on February 4th, those gyms will look like abandoned ghost towns. I mean seriously, give it 3 more weeks and 75% of the people who are on FIRE will decide to cave and have a Baconater and large Coke for lunch and that will be that. Oh, it's only gonna be a Son of Baconator and small Diet Coke, you say? My bad. So sad, but so true. And if I can't make a joke about it, then is life really even worth living? Of course it is. But you know what I mean...

This pattern of behavior has got to be so exhausting! It wears me out just writing a couple of silly sentences about it. And before you log off thinking that this is about to turn into an infomercial for Beachbody or P90X, let me quickly shift and tell you the real point of my post. Hope. Actual hope. Real hope that is lasting and comes from something other than our failed human attempts at finding it. I am talking about the hope of a future inheritance in a place that is so inexplicably wonderful that I will never even come close to having the words to describe it. The following is an excerpt about this place taken from the book of Isaiah. As you read the words, I urge you to let them temporarily transport you from where you sit straight to the middle of this new city and imagine the scene around you.

I will make peace your governor

and well-being your ruler.

No longer will violence be heard in your land,

nor ruin or destruction within your borders,

but you will call your walls Salvation

and your gates Praise.

The sun will no more be your light by day,

nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,

for the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your God will be your glory.

Your sun will never set again,

and your moon will wane no more;

the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your days of sorrow will end.

Then all your people will be righteous

and they will possess the land forever.

They are the shoot I have planted,

the work of my hands,

for the display of my splendor.

The least of you will become a thousand,

the smallest a mighty nation.

I am the Lord;

in its time I will do this swiftly.

Isaiah 60:17-22

Oh my goodness, I can't wait to go there! Who wants to go with me? Friends, make no mistake, for those of us who will humble ourselves at the feet of Jesus right now and allow Him to be the ruler of our hearts and lives, this place is for US! Our days of sorrow will end there. God will be our eternal glory there, shining so bright that there won't even be a need for the sun! No more violence. No more destruction. Peace and well-being will be ours forever! If it wasn't written in scripture, it would almost seem to good to be true. But there it is, written in black and white in the Book of Isaiah that is literally chock full of fulfilled promises. Promises that were written about WAY before they ever happened. Years and years and years before. So when we're told of things yet to come, we would be foolish to cast those things aside simply because our finite brains don't possess the ability to fully grasp them yet. No! Fellow believers, this IS our future! So while fitness goals, losing weight, taking time for yourself, de-stressing, de-cluttering, being more present with your family and friends, being intentional with your time, resolving to worry less and enjoy each moment for what it holds are all fantastic goals to set for yourself, sadly you are bound to be disappointed at some point. We are just mere humans after all and we have to give ourselves some (or a lot of) grace when we blow it.

But... if you will allow it to, here's the thing that will forever bring you back around to the hope you are really looking for. In those moments of setback that bring feelings of pure exhaustion and shame, look up! Remember what is coming for you. Heaven literally awaits! Put your hope in that thought. Put your hope in that future day. When you cave and eat the chocolate cake for breakfast, if you are a child of God, you still get to go. When you realize for the 100th time by March that you are wringing your hands in sheer panic and forgetting your resolution to worry less, if you are a child of God, you still get to go. When your house looks like a war-zone and you haven't had the energy to be intentional with a single person in weeks, if you are a child of God, you still get to go. When you yell at your kid before 7:30 in the morning, if you are a child of God, you still get to go (and they'll forgive you, mama). Need I go on? Heaven is your eternal hope! If you keep no other resolutions at all, let us wholeheartedly agree to live "heaven-minded" so that whatever perceived failure is happening around us right now, it won't be given the power to steal our final joy.

A few chapters later, Isaiah goes on to tell us a few words about those who the Lord looks on with favor.

These are the ones I look on with favor:

those who are humble and contrite in spirit,

and who tremble at my word.

Isaiah 66:2

Let's talk about these attributes for a sec. Humble. We all may immediately think of a person who has done some terrific task for their fellow man and asks for no acknowledgement at all as someone who is humble. Or we may consider someone who anonymously donates huge sums of money for the benefit of desperate people as another example of true humility. And both would be correct when using the strict dictionary definition of the word (and both are amazing examples of being a good person too, by the way). However, someone could give literally everything they own to another person and not ask for a moment of recognition and still not show the humility that earns them favor with God. How? Simple. If the most generous humanitarian that has ever lived refuses to humble him/herself before their Creator and recognize their desperate need for Him as Savior, they unfortunately have chosen a path on which God shows no favor. God's looking for humility that brings bowed heads and bended knees. 

Humility is the fear of the Lord;

its wages are riches and honor and life.

Proverbs 22:4

What about "contrite in spirit" and "those that tremble at my word?" The Message translation puts it like this, "But there is something I’m looking for: a person simple and plain, reverently responsive to what I say." Do you find yourself in the category of people who are reverently responsive to what God says? Are you a person who does as James 1:22 instructs: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."? If so, you are among the ones who have this future hope in heaven that I've been talking about. We are the ones who, despite all of our shortcomings here on earth and all of our pitiful resolution-keeping attempts, get to go to the place where the walls are Salvation and the gates are Praise! If that doesn't give you real hope today, then I don't know what will. Go ahead and look up and imagine what's in store for you!

For any readers who find yourself questioning whether you have ever truly been reverently responsive to God in terms of repenting of sins and recognizing your need for Jesus Christ to save you, there is no time like the present! Simply praying a few heart felt words to God in admission of your need for forgiveness of sin and salvation through Jesus is all it takes. You can do it right where you are. You don't have to be sitting in church (although a visit to your local pastor is definitely the correct next step). Just like a journey to better physical health can start at any time (surprise, it doesn't only have to be in January!), your journey of faith can start right this second. And what a journey it can be, friend. It won't be 100% easy or even pleasant at times, but the future hope of heaven can make the struggle oh so worth it. It's time to stop ignoring God. It's time to stop putting a love of habitual sin and the effects of immediate gratification before true love, humility and fear of the Lord. As a true believer, will you still sin? Absolutely, you can bet on it. But you will possess a power within you like nothing you have ever experienced before to fight those urges that once had complete control. There will be a new resident in your heart who will help you battle anything with the very power of God Himself. And even when you do stumble from time to time, here is a promise straight from Jesus Himself:

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

John 10:27-30

When a person makes an authentic, soul-altering decision to ask Jesus for salvation, nothing is snatching you away from Him ever again. Got more questions about what all of this means? All you ever need do is send me a message and I will come running!

In conclusion, nothing is worth missing out on that unexplainable, mystifying, unfathomable HOPE in our future home place called heaven. Won't you come with me? 'Til next time...