Material Blessings here on Earth, or Preferred Eternal Blessings for our Souls Beyond our Graves?

 

In one of the WhatsApp messages sent by someone to us in a chat group, he was talking about how rich some people live a life of plenty and how “lucky” and “blessed” they are while many live in abject poverty all their lives. I gave a lengthy reply among them briefly this:

Not just alone. In their entire lives they gather a lot of material wealth to burden themselves to keep and unnecessary to maintain until at old age they no longer have those strength and desire to maintain their rich lifestyles only to drop everything they have, including themselves into their graves.

Always remember from the day we were born, no matter what we have, or have achieved, the grave is ALWAYS there in front waiting for us.

Tell me dear friend, what is the purpose of your life when none, absolutely none can escape the grave.

On death we all MUST face eternity (time without end) and that eternity is either with Satan in the Lake of Fire for possessing excessive wealth, lusting for fame, power and name, and the  enjoyment of life  for a maximum of 100 years  here in this world, or to seek  entry into the  Kingdom of God for all eternity for suffering here in poverty

Which would we prefer?

Always be mindful of the warning Jesus gave of the rich man and Lazarus here:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2016%3A19-31&version=NIV

(Luke 16:19-31)

Most of the warnings like this parable are quietly and conveniently ignored by churches and their pastors because they themselves cannot, and are  unwilling to give up everything as Jesus told them to do to follow Him

They have plenty, including taking offerings from church goers to pay their high monthly salaries, getting married to have families, buying houses here and there, and indulge in buying several cars and other properties in the name of "serving God".

Jesus gave up all. He was never even married to burden Him to take care of His family, so that He can sacrifice all for His heavenly Father. He laid down everything to God.

But we get pastors and their church goers who merely wear a cross around their necks, wear some white clothes the easy way instead of taking the difficult path by carrying the cross in their lives like Jesus did.

“Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts” (Luke 20:46).

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).

On their deathbeds most rich people worry about all those possessions and wealth they have worked for, and have accumulated in their entire lives only to haunt them  they are going to release them all behind to crumble when they breathe their last,  or all their worldly assets  taken away from them by someone else when they closed their eyes for the last time. The grave or the fierce fire of cremation is always there ahead waiting for all of us. There is no escape even if we manage to live for over a 100 years.

There is just no way of escaping no matter who we are, all those  material possessions we accumulated,  the titles we vainly and proudly write before our names, or the powers we invested over others.

If we do not believe we have a soul, we will not remember anything all we had or have enjoyed here. They will all  come to a naught and in sheer dark emptiness, but if we believe we have one, we will remember all we possessed in this world but regretfully we are unable to carry them to the next world

We cannot  deny this till kingdom come, and even if we argue to choose between the two, we will still lose, either way.

But if we think we have a soul, unless we admit we are a soulless person (hmm! not a very pleasant way to describe ourselves), which would we prefer, invest treasures for our eternal souls in heaven, or gather physical wealth here temporarily to transit through the next world without them?

I am always mindful that the soul exists  eternally, and that spiritual life cannot be killed or destroyed unlike physical life, once created as it is the breath of God pumped into the elements of the soil out of which we are all made from our scientific understanding of the chemical composition of the human body. See this explanation in one of my hundreds of blog articles also.

I am also mindful of the  explicit  warning Jesus gave about the rich man and Lazarus as already mentioned about gathering material wealth while living temporarily with material “blessings" most only seek here in this world, and not blessing for their souls  beyond their graves  when this parable about the rich man and Lazarus is the clear evidence of the existence of a soul leaving us and carried away after death

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

(Mark 10: 21- 25)

It does not count one iota  how many times we go to church or all the churches we attended all our lives to listen to all those preachers, but what is going to save us is, are we prepared to give up all we have to follow Jesus physically and spiritually?

Believing in Jesus as the Son of God is to believe all that He asked us to do here in practice, and not merely theoretical lip service of  believing

In His  Sermons of the Mount written in Matthew chapters 5 to 7 Jesus clearly taught us what needs to be done before we hope to enter heaven.

Are we prepared to put all these into practice, and also as a Good Samaritan to those in need?  Yes, or no? Our conscience has already answered. We know this ourselves: The Sermon of the Mount has never, never been taught in any church I have attended because the pastors there knew they themselves are unwilling to practice them. It is impossible for them to practice in their daily lives. So they merely preach what Paul or Saul taught after Jesus left

Paul is NOT Jesus. Paul was just an ordinary first preacher to the early churches exactly like our current modern pastors today who  preach the same easy way out. Did Jesus tell us it is easy to enter heaven?

Only Paul as the first preacher to the early churches claimed this:

“We are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and not by our own efforts or works” (Ephesians 2:8-9), This was claimed only by Paul to the early churches after Jesus died. But did Jesus actually claim that about Himself?

The  practical and spiritual meaning of "carrying the cross" is  not just wearing a cross around our necks the easy way and merely by lip service to say we believe Jesus is the Son of God in this verse

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)

We can deny our unwillingness but we shall never win till kingdom come, or will we be able to enter into heaven if we are unwilling

I have written many articles about the mysteries of life, about the existence of a soul, our purpose and temporary existence here in this temporary world and many similar articles in  my blog.. Readers may search them in my blog  by keying in these 5 words into Google:

"Lim Ju Boo Scientific Logic"

Just two examples  below will do:

The Existence of a Soul:

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=Existence+of+a+soul

Mystery of Life:

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=Mystery+of+life&m=1

For  similar subjects such as the First Miracle of Jesus, just key in the title  of interest on the internal search engine on the top right hand corner of my blog

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread if we think we can just continue to invest in worldly treasures forever in this world to “enjoy” life,  and that we shall never die, and that there is no grave or the fierce fires of cremation awaiting in front.

Would we get the same bountiful blessings for souls after death? Think this over and over again. I shall add much more to this thought later as it is already 3:30 am in the morning and I need to be in the hospital by 7 am

Take not just care, but very, very great care

Seek wisdom, not wealth in our daily prayers. This never fails

jb