Corona Devo 3278
We are almost to the end! ...How will we finish?
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. (2) I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. ~Psalm 146:1-2
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I have a nice wooden Bible-stand/holder that my husband gave me.
Before the holder, I would prop-up my Bible on the table each morning, resting it on something (anything), so that it might be (a little elevated and tilted-toward me while I read it each day.
And then one birthday a few years back, I opened up a wooden book-stand from my husband and I (initially) thought: "What's this for?"
Possibly cookbooks(?), I wondered, as I smiled and thanked him.
But he had seen me propping-up my Bible day after day, and he had given me a thoughtful tool to help. And every single day I remember afresh what it's for (not cookbooks), as my Bible pages stay-turned and as my Bible stays propped and erect, and easy for me to read (Thanks to my husband!).
...except for right now.
My Bible won't stand up straight (even in its wooden holder), and that's because there aren't enough pages left on the right-side to stabilize it. We're almost to the end!
The wooden holder is doing its job, but the off-balance stature is unavoidable, simply because I (we!) are reading, Revelation, the last Chapter and pages in the Bible.
My tilted-Bible (because there aren't many pages left to read)/ a life well-lived for the Lord/ and the Book of Revelation have a lot in common.
We are coming to the end, Friends.
Just as the more we read a book, the thinner the page-cluster at the back of the book becomes...so too are we moving steadily toward what's-to-come: the end.
Our page-clusters are thinning too. Life moves quickly. The years fly by, and (we all know) that some people's chapters have been cut way too short.
But...we needn't be sad, because the end of this earth is the beginning of a new earth. We are coming to the end, but what's next is better than this chapter that we are in. Better than we can imagine, the Bible says:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. (2) And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
(3) I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. (4) He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
(5) And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” ~Revelation 21:1-5
For many reasons, we do not have to be sad that the end is coming, and that our pages are thinning, God says. But the best reason is that the Lord will be with us when we get to that next chapter.
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ~Revelation 21:3
The promise and hope and wow!/awe!/amazement! of this verse is so large, that the Lord states the same truth four times.
Four times in a single verse (Revelation 21:3), God says that He will be with us one day in a way that is better and more real and more home than we know Him today. Four times.
- “Look, God’s home is now among his people!
- He will live with them,
- and they will be his people.
- God himself will be with them. ~Revelation 21:3
Four times God says the same truth about what is coming in the end: Him to us.
We can.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we can read it (four times!) and we can trust and hope in God's word.
What John saw (Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ~Revelation 21:1)...we will see!
And God will be with us. Or-- we will be with God. They are different statements, but both hold deep promise for us.
~~~
The pages in our final chapters are thinning out, but we don't need to be sad.
One day, we will be with God in a new heaven and a new earth.
Could it get any better for us than that?
It turns out (God's Word says), that it does get better!!
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ~Revelation 21:4
(Death, sorrow, crying, pain): there is such depth and personal memories behind each of these. that for God to promise the absence of them is perspective-changing for us today.
...This one sentence should be enough to turn to Him, and I hope that we have, or that today, we will. (He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” ~Revelation 21:4)
He will (one day) wipe all of this away. Every funeral we have wept at. Every loved one we have dearly missed. Every sad memory... Every hardship, trial, injury, pain..
Our life-pages may be thinning, but don't fret and let's take heart about what God says is next: All these things are gone forever.”
Jesus speaks with authority and finality over everything that hurts us here, and it will (all) be gone when we are with Him there.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ~Revelation 21:1
~~~
Blessings,
sarah
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