One day some years ago during the lunch hour, my Administrative Assistant decided to bring her two young nephews into the office. She wanted them to meet the people she worked with and vise-versa. Daniel was probably about five, and I'm sure he left wondering who that weird guy is that his aunt works with. See, when I met Daniel, he flashed a big smile. He revealed some missing teeth in the process and I asked him what happened. He said, "I lost those teeth."
I told Daniel I was sorry he lost them and I wanted to help him find them, after which I got down on the floor and proceeded to crawl around looking for them. Mercifully he told me I didn't have to keep looking. He said he didn't mind losing those teeth. He said, "Hey, I got permanent ones!"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Temporary Pain, Permanent Gain."
The first time a child loses a tooth it can be pretty disconcerting. But every child quickly learns that this is no big problem. You lose the temporary, but you're going to be trading it for the permanent.
Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 4:14,16. This is the perspective of a man who has been severely hammered and he's got the scars to prove it physically and emotionally. He opens by saying, "We do not lose heart." Now, how can he be unsinkable like this when there's so much hardship and pain? He says, "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."
Now, you might be going through a pretty low time right now and you're sinking physically, or financially, or emotionally. Wouldn't it be nice to know what Paul's secret of daily renewal is? Well, it's sort of the Daniel with the missing teeth perspective. Paul goes on to say, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not only on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary. But what is unseen is eternal."
Paul's telling us that when you feel the weight of heavy trouble, get out your scale. Put your troubles on one side; put your eternal rewards on the other and the scale will go "boom" on the side of the blessings - the rewards - because your eternity with your Savior far outweighs any pain now. In fact, Paul says in Romans 8:18, "Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." He said later in that chapter, "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
When our kids were going through "junior high-itis" my wife and I would sometimes turn to each other and just say, "TTSP". That was code: This too shall pass. Well, it's that perspective on earth's hard times that makes them bearable and even victorious if you focus on what's going to last forever rather than what's going to last for just a little while. That's what's so wonderful about the promise of God's heaven with no pain, no tears, no sin.
It's wonderful to hear about the prospect of God's unimaginable rewards for those who remain faithful to Him even in the darkest hours. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2:9, "No one has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." That's what you focus on. When you focus on the temporary hurt, you're vulnerable to try to do something or anything to relieve your pain, often making a permanent mistake to get through some temporary pain. But you don't have to do that when your eye is on the prize, not on the pain of the race.
Even a little boy with a lost tooth can understand that losing something is okay if it's only temporary, and if you'll soon trade it in for something you'll never lose you can make it though. This is only temporary and nothing compares to what you're going to have forever.
You know the wonderful thing that Jesus did when He came? He added a word to the word life - everlasting. He added eternity to our possibilities for what our future will be. In fact, you will spend eternity either with or without this Jesus. And today, knowing your pain, knowing your hurt, knowing your sin, He stands ready to come into your life and forgive the sins that He died for and give you a fresh start and carry the burden with you and for you.
If you've never begun a relationship with Him, I invite you to find out how at our website ANewStory.com. Because everything changes when you know that this life isn't all you have. You've got an eternity with God ahead of you.
What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away? At least in this world. There is an eternity ahead and it will either be spent with Jesus or in eternal torment which was prepared NOT FOR MAN, but for the devil and his angels who rebelled against God.
We are reminded in James 3: 9 that GOD IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH but that ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.
God does not want ANYONE on this planet to perish, die without CHRIST and go to a place He prepared for Satan. Because SIN cannot enter into heaven, the only place left to go is there. WHEN we trust Jesus as Savior, HE pcleanses us from all our sin and we are presented to GOD as sinless, and HE sees US as HE sees HIS only begotten SON because Jesus places HIS own robe of righteousness onto US!!!!!
Oh how He loves you and me!!!!
If you have never trusted your eternal soul to Jesus, today would be a great day to turn to HIM, ask HIM to forgive you of your sin and to take HIM as your ONLY LORD and Savior. Ask HIM to come into your heart and to save you before it is eternally too late.
Once you die, it is too late. The soul and spirit have left the body and are either gone straight into the presence of GOD in HEAVEN or you have awkwened to the terrible realities of that HELL you thought while alive that were just children's tales and now you have found out that they were not.
ETERNITY is a long time. It never ends. You think 100 years is long?
How about one thousand?
How about one hundred thousand?
One million?
One Billion?
One trillion?
Eternity has no end.... You will forever either be with Jesus or you will forever be tortured in a place called hell where the fire never stops and moans and cries never cease. You are without the presence of GOD which you had while on earth, but not in hell. Being apart from HIM and HIS presence is bad enough.
My friend, trust Christ today before you do one other thing. Spend eternity with HIM and rejoice and be in HIS presence for eternity.
This is my heart's desire for you!
May God lead you and bring you to HIMSELF and save you from your sins!
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