We’ve never been to a funeral, no matter how tragic or expected the person’s death, when much of the service and the conversations surrounding it didn’t center on memories of his or her life. We recall happier times we spent together. We reflect on what this individual was like. We regret that we won’t be able to enjoy their smile or laughter anymore on earth.

We look back. That’s all we humans really know how to do. To look back is to know. To look ahead is merely to guess and wonder.

But not for the believer in Jesus Christ. Our view looking forward, though lacking in some of the specifics God has chosen not to reveal, is one of confidence and knowledge, of hope and authentic anticipation. Randy Alcorn writes in Game Plan for Life, “As people age, they tend to look back at when they were at their best, knowing they’ll never regain those days. But if you’re a Christ-follower, you don’t look back to your peak. You look forward to it.”

Imagine being encouraged, as Randy says, that “the strongest I’ve ever felt is just a hint of what’s to come.” Imagine being sure that “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Imagine being able to look ahead . . . and know.

—prayer: Lord, there’s so much I don’t understand. But as one who has given his life to you, I pray that you will settle my heart whenever I doubt your promises. Help me believe in your love for me.(From “Two Minute Drills, by Joe Gibbs)

Remember dear friend, For the Christian, the future always looks bright if you look far enough ahead–the best is yet to come! –HDS

“When a man’s ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him”   (Proverbs 16:7).

I must see that my ways please the LORD. Even then I shall have enemies; and, perhaps, all the more certainly because I endeavor to do that which is right. But what a promise this is! The LORD will make the wrath of man to praise Him and abate it so that it shall not distress me.

He can constrain an enemy to desist from harming me, even though he has a mind to do so. This He did with Laban, who pursued Jacob but did not dare to touch him. Or He can subdue the wrath of the enemy and make him friendly, as He did with Esau, who met Jacob in a brotherly manner, though Jacob had dreaded that he would smite him and his family with the sword. The LORD can also convert a furious adversary into a brother in Christ and a fellow worker, as He did with Saul of Tarsus. Oh, that He would do this in every case where a persecuting spirit appears!

Happy is the man whose enemies are made to be to him what the lions were to Daniel in the den, quiet and companionable! When I meet death, who is called the last enemy, I pray that I may be at peace. Only let my great care be to please the LORD in all things. Oh, for faith and holiness; for these are a pleasure unto the Most High! (Faith’s Checkbook, by C. H. Spurgeon)

In this day when evil men wax worse and worse, our own family members are without natural affection, sin abounds, and nations rise against nations, let us remember that our best defense and our greatest safety is to simply please the Lord. No other goal is worthy of our pursuit. Nothing else can provide such peace. –HDS

The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not ‘used’ the gospel in and on all parts of our life. (Timothy Keller)

Jesus now defines us

One of the most important things to remember in the Christian life is that we must always live in light of who God is, what Jesus has done, and what has happened to us as a result. Usually we tend to define ourselves by our successes or failures, our reputation, our sin, our intelligence, beauty, and abilities (or lack of them). Moreover, we often define other people by their weaknesses, failures, and sins. Hence we are quick to gossip and condemn others. The good news calls us to view ourselves and other Christians very differently. Jesus now defines who we are. Through Jesus’ work on the cross we have been declared perfect, blameless, and without fault. We have been forgiven and made right with God. We have become the dearly loved children of the living God, and nothing can separate us from his love. (Neil H. Williams)

God provided the solution

God provided the solutions to man’s sin and rebellion by sending Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem. Incredibly, God placed that condemnation on His Son, Jesus Christ, who totally bore the wrath of God and the justice of God against sin in His death on the cross. If God exercised such unconditional love to us then, why would we ever question His intervention in our lives now? (John Murray)

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. —Romans 5:7-8

We find it easy to love people who are easy to love. In reality, we tend to like people who are like us. Furthermore, we assume that God’s love is bound by the same standards. If He loves us, we assume it must mean that we are not all that bad. Not only is this view false in every way, it destroys a deep appreciation for the amazing beauty of God’s love—that He loved the unlovely, and died for the unloving.

D. A. Carson illustrated the difference between our vision of love and God’s:

Charles and Susan are walking down the beach, hand in hand. They’ve kicked off their shoes and the wet sand squishes between their toes. Charles turns to Susan, gazes deeply into her large hazel eyes and says, “Susan, I love you; I really do.” What does he mean? If we assume he has decency and Christian virtue, the least he could mean is something like, “Susan, you mean everything to me. I can’t live without you. Your smile paralyzes me from fifty yards; your sparkling good humor, your beautiful eyes, the scent of your hair—everything about you transfixes me . . . I really love you.”

Or do his words I love you mean something like, “Susan, in spite of the fact that your nose is so large it belongs in cartoons, your hair has enough grease to lubricate an eighteen-wheeler, your knees make a camel look elegant, and your personality would scare Attila the Hun, I really love you.”

I’m guessing Charles meant the first one! Yet this is how human love differs from God’s love. When Romans 5 tells us that God “loved us,” it doesn’t mean that God looked down on us and said. “You mean everything to me. I can’t live without you: your personality, your witty conversation, your beauty, your smile— everything about you.”

Not a chance!  When God says, “I love you,” He is saying, “Listen—your nose and greasy hair, your disjointed knees and selfish personality, your wretched sinfulness—all make you disgustingly unattractive to Me. But I love you because I have chosen to love you, through My Son, your Savior.”

My friend, if you think you deserve God’s love, even to the smallest degree, you will never feel totally secure in Him. You will live in perpetual fear that you might do something undeserving of His love and, if that is the case, then you definitely will!

Don’t be afraid. This is the amazing beauty of God’s love toward us, that “while we were still sinners, He died for us.” The truth is, there isn’t anything you can do that will ever change His mind. His love for you is the same yesterday, today . . . and forever!

Thank the Lord for loving you so much that He not only chose to die for you while you were still in your sins, but He chooses to love you every day in spite of your sin. Pray that He will give you strength to obey His command to love others in the same way He has loved you.(From “A Wisdom Retreat”, Scripture references changed to the KJV, HDS)