Eternity

Do you ever think much about eternity? Consider again this reality. Modern physics, aided by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, gives a few hints of the reality of eternity. A weight, a clock, and a ruler can be used to illustrate this.

Here on earth a one pound object weighs one pound because of the gravitational pull on it. On the moon where there is a different gravitational pull it would weigh three ounces. Remember how our astronauts bounded around on the moon so effortlessly?

If that same object could be placed on the surface of the sun without being burned up it would weigh twenty-eight pounds. Considering that the sun burns four tons of its mass per second our weight wouldn’t last. 

The same object has a relatively different weight.

A ruler can be used to illustrate mass. Mass, that is the density or size of an object, also varies depending on speed. The size of a car varies depending on its speed. Driving at 50 miles an hour a car is three-ten-millionths of an inch shorter.

If it were possible to travel at 90% of the speed of light, that is 167,000 miles per second, a car would be half its length. Your body mass would also. Time is the third factor. Take a voyage to the star Sirius which is nine light years away. If you traveled at 99.99999% of the speed of light the following would happen. Your friends here on earth would have to wait 18 years for you to make the round trip. Upon returning your watch and body clock would indicate you had been gone 12 hours. You would be twelve hours older and your friends eighteen years. Now, there is an anti-aging program.

If you could accelerate just a bit and reach the speed of light, time would stand still. That time warp would be called eternity.

Not having observed any of these principles, it is hard to comprehend them. Likewise, not yet having experienced eternity, it is hard to conceive of it. If eternity is a reality and we are immortal that means there never will be a time we won’t be. We ought to give that a lot of thought. It should be our number one thought.

Must we light a candle to see the sun? 

Consider the evidence of you being a non-organic being living in an organic body from which your spirit will someday exit and enter the realm of eternity. 

There is a government sponsored ad related to travel overseas that warns: “Know before you go.”

Knowing they are going, millions have found insight into this realm in their Christian faith. Dependent faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is essential in order to gain assurance of afterlife with Him.

Where Are You Going?

Albert Einstein, honored by Time Magazine as the Man of the Century, was traveling by train from Princeton when the conductor came down the aisle collecting tickets. Dr. Einstein couldn’t find his ticket. He checked pocket after pocket but found no ticket. The conductor said, “That’s alright Dr. Einstein, we all know who you are and that you would have bought a ticket.”

The conductor continued down the aisle but looked back to see Dr. Einstein, the great physicist, on his knees looking under the seat for the ticket. The conductor returned and appealed, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I am sure you bought one.”

Einstein said, “Young man, I, too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I am going.” Do you know where you are going?

From an eternal perspective everyone is going somewhere. Death proves there is no permanent status in life. The answer to where you are going is the most significant issue you will ever face. 

Ignoring the issue does not prevent it from being on the horizon of your life   needing an answer.

Giving a no answer is a “no” answer to the invitation to dependably trust Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life and share eternity with Him. Doing so not only ensures where you are going, it also provides the positive and productive way to live while getting there. Such faith provides needed resources for the journey.

Blaise Pascal, the great mathematician established the science of hydrostatics and laid the foundation for differential calculus, was a man of great faith. He was also a brilliant philosopher and wrote: “How can anyone lose who chooses to become a Christian? If, when he dies, there turns out to be no God and his faith was in vain, he has lost nothing — in fact he has been happier in life than his non-believing friends. If, however, there is a God and a heaven and hell, then he had gained heaven and his skeptical friends will have lost everything in hell.”

That candor puts the importance of a positive response to the love of God in perspective.

Intending to make the decision and commitment is dangerous. Because of the “X” factor, an intent without action is a “no.” To say “no” is a no to an afterlife with all that faith in Jesus offers. It is as Pascal so clearly states, you “will have lost everything in hell.” Compare that with all that is gained in heaven.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Levi Matthew

“As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9).

Jesus Christ often kept bad company for a good reason. When He encountered Levi Matthew, the tax collector, He was in bad company. Jewish rabbis considered them unclean for three reasons:

Ceremonially they were unclean because their job constantly brought them into contact with Gentiles.

Politically they were unclean because they were employees of the occupying Roman government.

Morally they were unclean because they were dishonest extortioners who exploited the people for personal gain.

Matthew, like most of the others who were Christ’s apostles, was a most unlikely candidate for apostleship. He was a bad dude. Understandably critics asked others, “Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?

Jesus overheard the question and answered Himself. “When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick'” (Matthew 9:12).

The Great Physician had found a chronicle sick sinner.

Matthew was known as Levi. Jesus evidently gave him the name Matthew. It means “gift of God.”

Matthew was the brother of James the Lesser, cousin of James and John, as well as cousin of Jesus Christ.

To the public he was the man everyone loved to hate. He was looked upon about like a drug dealer who is a child abuser would be looked upon today. The term “scum bag” could have been coined for him.

Romans sold the right to be tax collectors. The tax collector collected the tax prescribed by the Romans plus all else they thought they could get out of the people. There were two basic types of taxes: statutory and customs.

Statutory taxes were one tenth of the grain, one fifth of the wine, one percent of annual income, and a poll tax equal to one day’s pay.

They often collected custom taxes, tolls, and tariffs as high as 12% of the worth of the goods. They were legal extortioners. People hated them.

Cicero (146-43 BC) listed trades most unbecoming of a gentleman. Number one was a tax collector.

Of tax collectors Christ said, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31). He grouped them in pretty sorry company. In recent times there have been horror stories about how IRS agents have treated some persons. Such would be considered acts of kindness compared to the extortion people like Matthew imposed.

Matthew was one of the most educated of the apostles. He had to be in order to deal with the Romans and manage the book keeping. His writing skill became a blessing when the Holy Spirit guided him to write our first gospel: “Matthew.”

Matthew wrote his gospel in his native language of Hebrew. There are more of Christ’s words in Matthew than any gospel. He wrote of Christ as the Messiah King of the Jews. It was the gospel directed primarily to the Jewish mentality.

Augustine chose the lion as a symbol for Matthew for it is the Lion of Judah, the Messiah, about which he wrote.

Not all of the apostles were illiterate poor people. Fishermen and tax collectors did very well financially.

Jesus was just beginning to get a hearing from the public. His “movement” was gaining popularity. For Him to take into His inner circle a tax collector was a risky thing to do. It would have caused Romans and Jews alike to have increased suspicion regarding what Christ was trying to do.

It was risky also because Simon the Zealot was also a member of the apostle band. This insurgent had just as soon put a knife in the back of a tax collector as in the belly of a Roman soldier. For Matthew and Simon to get along was a miracle. It is an example to all opposites in the church to the fact we are to co-exist in love with Christ.

Both of the men needed forgiveness and needed to forgive. Two little boys were taught the Lord’s prayer using the phrases, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” They visited another church where they used the verbs “debts” and “debtors.” When they got home they told their parents that church had a different Lord’s prayers which went like this: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are dead set against us.” That we must do.

Matthew was not respected by the Romans for he had sold out his own people and was in effect robbing them for the Romans. The Jews detested and feared him as a collaborator with the enemy. His word was worthless in the court of law. He was shunned by his fellow citizens and unwelcome at all social functions. He was even unwanted at the synagogue. He was an outcast from society. When he heard Jesus speak it must have touched a responsive cord in his life. He was a lonely man when invited by Jesus to follow Him.

Not only was he a lonely man he was a guilty man. The message of repentance being preached by John the Baptist was well known in the region. Matthew would have heard of it. “Repent” he could do and needed to do. But how?

Then Jesus came to Capernaum to preach. Envision Matthew along the fringe of the crowd listening to the message of hope preached by Jesus. For the first time in his life, he began to have qualms about his work. It was what he, a hopeless man, needed to hear.

Almost immediately after Jesus healed a paralyzed man at Peter’s house in Capernaum Matthew encountered Him. Jesus spoke to him, “Follow Me!” He did.

Luke described the first thing Matthew did. He gave a big fish fry: “Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, ‘Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance'” (Luke 5: 29-32).

The first instinct of a convert was acted upon by Matthew. It is inherent to a new life to want to tell others and he did.

Observe the emotion in the text, “Jesus…saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office” (Matthew 9:9).

Others saw him and despised him for what he was.

Jesus saw him and loved him for what he could be.

That is the way Jesus looks at all of us. We need to look at ourselves like Jesus does. We need to recognize the potential the Lord has put within us and ask Him to develop it as we surrender it.

A Stimulus for Tired People

Numbers 6:23 – 26

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”  (Numbers 6: 24 – 26) This is called the Aaronic Benediction.

The speech of Jesus was frequently punctuated with the words “joy” and “peace.” Yet, the speech of most gives the impression of having little. “I am tired” is heard more often than “blessed” in response to a greeting.

Do you ever feel tired? Hopefully you do. It indicates having extended yourself in a cause you consider worthy. Vince Lombardy, the highly successful former coach of the Green Bay Packers, said, “Happiness is to be lying flat on your back exhausted from an effort to achieve victory.” Such is a celebration of honest and honorable fatigue.

How do you respond to the innocent greeting, “Hello, how are you?” Why in light of the provisions of this prayer do so many people respond “Tired?”

This question concerns the medical community as well as the faith community. Dr. Richard Clark Cabbot of the Mayo Clinic led a team that studied the issue of “How to help people overcome that tired feeling.”

Parenthetically, there are times when we are all legitimately tired. It is a wonderful condition if the fatigue is the result of energy and effort well spent.

However, there is something wrong when it is 9:00 AM and a healthy individual says, “I am tired.”

The doctors of Mayo Clinic engaged in a study concerned with the chronically tired persons who have no physiological reason for always being tired. They concluded four things to help overcome this negative state of being. They are:

WORK, PLAY, LOVE, AND WORSHIP.

The Clinic was so impressed they had a logo designed using a cross with four equal arms each of which represented one of the four: 

WORK, PLAY, LOVE, AND WORSHIP. 

Consider them as a daily antidote to having that “tired feeling.” It is a prescription from a highly respected medical source.

Evaluate your life as to how you are letting God help you keep that balance. Are all four components properly incorporated in your life?

Start your days by meditating on this calmative text:
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.” (Psalm 23:1-2)

Hello, How are You?

Numbers 6:23-26

Jesus gathered with His bewildered followers on the eve of His execution for His last time with them. Confusion and fear held them in a firm grip as He spoke. Much of what He said is contained in John 14 – 17. In that hostile environment His talk was punctuated with such words as “joy” and “peace.”  He spoke often in various settings of His followers as being “blessed.” That is us.

Yet, much of our conduct and conversation gives the impression we have little joy, peace, and experience few blessings.  Listen the next time you speak to someone with such a simple greeting as, “Hello, how are you?” Answers:

One is “So far, so good.” This sounds like the response of a person on safari in a predator infested jungle. Things have been going pretty good so far, but at any minute I expect an attack resulting in catastrophe.  

Further translated, “God has taken care of me so far, but at any minute I expect His provision and protection to expire.”

A second even more negative response is, “Tired!”

In the Old Testament era followers of Jehovah were taught a special prayer which gave cause for optimism. It is often called the equivalent of the Lord’s Prayer in the Old Testament. It is called the Aaronic Benediction.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”  (Numbers 6: 24 – 26)

God taught us this prayer. Blessing is His idea. A simple response to the greeting, ”Hello, how are you?” should well be, “Blessed.”

The prayer in faith expects God to draw near and enfold one in His grace. To pray it is to live expectant of blessings, not of dread as in “So far, so good.”

The praying of this prayer is a way of saying, “Yes, Amen!” to God’s promises. 

“The Lord bless you and keep you” speaks of present blessings and future care by the Lord. He will “keep you.” 

The expression, “Make His face to shine upon you” refers to Him revealing His will.

“The Lord lift up His countenance upon you” is a term expressive of a smile.  May God find such pleasure in you as to smile and reward you with peace.

The prayer speaks of blessing, presence, and the smile of God. It is not a person’s idea, it is God’s idea. It is what He wants for you.

Pray it expectantly, respond accordingly, and acknowledge it every time someone asks how are you.