A stranger in Heaven

I saw an old friend yesterday and it was such a surprise. You know the feeling where you suddenly see a face you recognise but you didn’t expect to see that person. It’s really a special feeling. I wonder what it’s going to feel like when we get to heaven and meet Jesus face to face. Are we going to be surprised at His appearance or are we going to know His face. Is it going to feel like we’re meeting someone we know intimately or are we going to feel like we’re meeting a stranger for the first time? Have you ever thought about it? Let’s look at some character traits of Jesus and see if they are familiar? Some of these verses are out of the Old Testament and were spoken prophetically while other are from the New Testament either being the words of Jesus himself, the witness of His disciples or  words spoken by people to whom Jesus revealed His character. Jesus still reveals His character today to his followers so that we can get to know Him.

Matthew 9:36, But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

Luke 19:41, Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

Luke 23:34, Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Isaiah 11:5, Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.

John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 7:18, He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King is coming to you;

He is just and having salvation,

Lowly and riding on a donkey,

A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Isaiah 40:11, He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm,

And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.

2 Corintians 5:21,  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Hebrews 7:26-27, For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

Isaiah 53:7, He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

Isaiah 53:9, And they made His grave with the wicked—

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

1 Peter 2:22, Who committed no sin,

Nor was deceit found in His mouth

1 Timothy 1:16, However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

Philippians 2:8-11, And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Would we recognise Jesus from these verses? There are many, many more such references and we could be busy for days just finding them. We need to spend time in the Word to get to know our Saviour so well that we won’t be meeting a stranger in Heaven.

A God kind of mercy

There was an incident today in which a child was disappointed. An expectation had been created that was not delivered. And apparently it was just an oversight, but it happened. It was explained to me that someone had made a mistake and that the mistake would be corrected. What this made me realize was that every time a child is wronged it breaks my heart. It seriously hurts me because I physically feel what that child is feeling. And really, it’s not just with children, it is anybody. I think God stirred in a big spoon of mercy when He made me. I cannot abide injustice. It hurts me to my core.

Mercy is something that God shows us in great abundance daily. Without mercy I don’t think the human race would still be in existence. The dictionary gives the meaning of mercy as: ‘compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.’

God definitely has the power to punish and harm us if He feels like it. His capacity for showing mercy alone would probably qualify Him to be God.

Exodus 20:6,  but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Psalm 85:10-13,

Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,

That glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,

And righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yes, the Lord will give what is good;

And our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before Him,

And shall make His footsteps our pathway.

These words are so beautiful, and the promise that is made is so precious. God will give us good things and we will prosper if we live out the salvation we have received through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. And He will always go ahead of us. We know where we stand when we are children of God. We know that we never have to fear. We know that no matter how bad things look God is going through the storms with us.

Romans 9:15, For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

This verse seems to be a little strange at first but I interpret it as God saying, “If I feel like having mercy and compassion on someone that you think doesn’t deserve it, that’s My choice.” That means that we can’t deserve His mercy by doing things, just like we can’t earn salvation. People so badly want to be able to do things that will cause God to favour them. I think it’s born into humans because that’s what people are like. If you do certain things that please me then I will do what you need from me. And that is 100% not what God is like at all. The only thing we need to do is to accept Jesus to be our saviour. That’s it!

Joel 2:32,

And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Shall be saved.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,

As the Lord has said,

Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

Romans 10:9-13, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

God’s mercy is enough for us all and we need to be showing mercy towards others, and not a kind of condescending mercy that shouts of arrogance. We need to dig deep inside our souls and find that kind of compassion and mercy that God has shown for us every time we messed up and He reached out and put His arm around us and welcomed us home.

For all have sinned

Do you remember when you were a child and the teacher left the classroom with the instruction: “Be quiet while I’m out!”? And you try your best. You really do. You try to concentrate on the work in front of you and not on your friend next to you. You try to ignore the whispers around you and the paper jet that just landed on top of your Math book. You even try not to acknowledge the boy who is poking his pen into your back or the one who is pulling your braid. You try. You try so hard but before you know it you are caught up in all the activity around you when the teacher returns your name is on her detention list and you just can’t understand why. If we try to be good people, if the try to follow the laws and ruled in the Bible we are going to get caught up in all the worldly activity around us and become so involved in it that by the time we have to stand before the Judgement Seat we are not going to receive the ultimate prize of living in Heaven for eternity. That is, if we TRY.

Romans 3:11-18 tells how there isn’t even one righteous person who is under the law. Verse 19: ‘Now we know that whatever the law says, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deed of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.’ We can’t be good on our own. We can try as hard as we want, but in our own strength we cannot keep the law. We can for a while, or sometimes, or with certain things, but not all the time with everything. All that’s going to happen is that we will wear ourselves out trying and then find ourselves mixed up in everything that’s against the law.
So, what do we do to avoid this?
Make the decision that you want to be a child of God. Ask Him to forgive your sins and ask Jesus to come and live in your heart.
Make a decision that you want a relationship with Jesus Christ and allow Him to be master of your life and stop TRYING. All His grace to rule within you. Give the Holy Spirit the reigns and let Him lead you.
Are you now going to be perfect? NO!! But you are going to be justified. Romans 3:23-24 – ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ In verse 25 – 26 Paul goes on to say that because Jesus died for us, God has forgiven our sins. This grace that we are given because we are children of God is enough to keep us from going to Hell. It is not an excuse to just carry on doing what we want to do without regard for anything, but it covers the things we do that we shouldn’t be doing and it gives us the strength to resist the temptations that come before us daily. We can’t DO anything to win God’s favour. The only way we get His favour is to hold onto His Son and give our lives to Him. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “…I die daily.”
Just like Paul we should ‘die daily’ to the old things, to the worldly things that drag us down and be alive and aware daily of God’s redeeming grace.