Hi how are you all today? I am well and have had a great weekend with church, family and chores. Chores seems a strange think to like but not only is it a necessity for a clean home, it is always a sense of accomplishment when I have finished them. I am aware they never end😀. How was your weekend?
This week I want to explore the phrase “worthy of eternal life”. My scripture reference is Acts 13:46 and 47. It states:
And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'”
Paul was speaking to the Jews in one of their synagogues in their normal weekly service. He was literally saying that Jesus appeared to you first. He spent His time showing the Jews a better way of living. However, they didn’t believe in Him and therefore, because they rejected the message, they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life.
I wonder how many times we do this too. We are reading our Bibles and the word God speaks to us is too harsh so we inevitably judge ourselves unworthy to receive from God.
The Word of God needs to be read by us in order for it to teach us, disciple us, change our thinking and sometimes change our way of life and values. Jesus said that He was the way, truth and life. If we don’t abide by the Word of God and allow it to change us, we deem ourselves unworthy.
Unworthy in the dictionary means not deserving respect or attention, not acceptable and having little merit. When we judge ourselves unworthy, we are literally saying I don’t deserve to have a better life, my life isn’t acceptable enough to change or my life is okay, without realising that without God, the way you live your life has little merit in eternity.
You see it is important to not only give our life to Jesus but to live a life worthy of eternal life. We are saved by faith in God but it is our works or the way we live our lives that will impact others.
It will also impact the rewards we receive in eternity. Just imagine for a minute that you are travelling to a foreign country. You really want to go so you just jump on a plane right! You may arrive in the country but you are never going to get inside it. Why? Because you don’t have the right documents. Before you even jump on a plane, you need to pay for it and obtain a passport and maybe a visa. This is like our salvation.
But once you get inside the country, if you don’t obey the laws and customs, you will end up in jail. You are in the country but because your life didn’t match that country’s expectations, you are locked away.
This is similar for us if we don’t live a life worthy of eternity. We may still get to heaven but the ways of heaven will be foreign to us. If we haven’t walked in love on the earth, we will have to learn to walk in love, for example.
The closer we live a life worthy of heaven on earth, the more at home we will feel in heaven. We may walk straight in just like Enoch.
How do we live a life worthy of heaven? Easy but hard. Obey the two commandments Jesus left us with- love God and love others.
This week make a conscious effort to live your life loving God and loving others. Then you will live a life worthy of eternity.
Have a great week and keep living the life God intended for you.
Bless you
Karen
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