“I’m better than I was yesterday because I am one day closer to being with my Lord. ”
Too often, the pain, grief, loss and disappointments of this world fill our heart with the wrong things. To prevent this we need to follow the biblical examples of Godly responses to worldly afflictions.
David was devastated by the illness of his son. He was with him constantly, even to the point of neglecting his own physical needs. However when his son died, the scripture says that David got up, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, requested food and ate, (2 Sam. 12:20). He explained his actions by saying, “Now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam. 12:23). David’s actions and statement are close to the thought, “I’m better than I was yesterday because I am one day closer to being with my Lord.”
As we grow older, experience the difficulties that go with aging, and are asked, “How are you?” Our answer will reveal whether our heart is filled with our infirmities or with something better. Paul implied that to fill our hearts with the weights of the world is to lose heart. In 2 Cor. 4:16, he wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light aflliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. ”
Fill your heart with hope for eternity and wait for someone to ask, “How Are You?”
via Drexel Blvd. Church of Christ
Oklahoma City, OK
Bulletin Digest (January 2005)