Your Best Life Later

I have a strong desire to write a book, and I might have finally figured out the perfect title...thats right, Your Best Life Later. After all, thats what Christianity is all about, its about the life to come. We live and exist for the Kingdom of God, not the Kingdom of Men. Check out this quote I ran across this morning:

Michael Horton, professor of theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondito, California, offered a thorough and perceptive response to Osteen's "moral therapy:"

"It's changing your lifestyle to receive God's favor," Horton says. "It's not heaven in the hereafter but happiness here and now. But it is still up to you to make it happen."

He finds sad truth in an old newspaper headline he once saw: "'To hell with sin when being good is enough.' That's the drift of American preaching today in a lot of churches. People know what sin is; they just don't believe in it anymore. We mix up happiness and holiness, and God is no longer the reference point."

In other words, he asks, if you can solve your problems or sins yourself, what difference does it make that Christ was crucified?

Christianity is a religion founded on the fact of a crucified and risen Lord. Jesus death was efficacious for salvation. Paul says that his death has overcome death, hell, and the grave and that it has paved the way for us to have salvation for all of eternity. Many Christians die martyrs deaths...they don't have their best life now, but they do have an incredible life to look to later.

Christ didn't promise us a vacation on this earth, but to him who perseveres Christ has promised the Kingdom (Revelation 3:21, Revelation 20:4).