Job,
the man of God in the Old Testament said, “Naked came I out of my
mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither”; (Job 1:21 KJV).
He is emphasizing that we can’t bring our material riches in
heaven. All of these material riches that we have on earth shall be
left behind when we die. In fact, a time is appointed in the future
when “the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and
everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Pet. 3:10) and “That day
will bring about the destruction of the heaven by fire, and the
elements will melt in the heat (vs. 11). So, why do people strive or
work hard to be rich? The answer is simple: to enjoy those riches
while living on this planet earth.
The
Bible teaches that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and
some people will be fortunate to be able to enter this stage of life
which is eternal - - without end. How? For God so loved the world
that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 KJV).
“Believe in the LORD Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts
16:31 NIV). Simple, but difficult to achieve. For most people, to
see is to believe, but the trouble with God is that He merely tells
us now in words, we can see later when we reach there! This is what
the Bible calls FAITH.
Faith in Jesus (God in the flesh or person). No faith in
Jesus/God, sorry no heaven.
Blessed
were those who saw personally and spoke to Jesus in person and who
witnessed the miracles He performed, the first being the turning of
six jars of water into wine during a wedding ceremony in Cana (John
2:6 & 9). They did not have a hard way of believing that Jesus
is God, for it is obvious that no one can perform the miracle unless
He is God or God is with Him.
However,
many of us, I said US
because I include myself, are like the Old Testament people who were
fed with manna (bread from God out of heaven, or from nothing for 40
years); they crossed the red sea on dry ground; in the New Testament
era, the feeding of five thousand excluding women and children out of
only two fish and five loaves of bread (Mark 6:30-44); when Jesus
walked on the water (Mark 6:45-51); and the other miraculous events
too numerous to enumerate, but yet somehow when they were faced with
difficulties in life, they doubted the awesome power of God. Jesus
said, “with God nothing is impossible” or “with God anything
and everything is possible” (Luke 1:37; 18:27).
This
brings us to the meaning of FAITH. The Bible itself defines FAITH in
this manner: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1 NIV). In the King James
version, NOW is
capitalized to emphasize the fact that although we do not yet see
with our own eyes, yet we are already SURE
of what we are still
hoping for (like to be in
heaven, a place reserved by God for all BELIEVERS
in Christ [God in the flesh or person] partly
described as follows:
“1
Then I
saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2
I saw the
Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3
And I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of
God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people,
and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4
He
will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away."
“1
Then the
angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2
down the
middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river
stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its
fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of
the nations.
3
No longer
will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in
the city, and his servants will serve him.
4
They will
see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5
There
will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the
light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they
will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev.
21:1-4; 22:1-5)
How
does faith work for our salvation? The Bible gives an account of
Jesus Christ being anointed by a sinful
woman in Luke 7:36-50. At the conclusion of the story Jesus said to
the woman: Your FAITH has
saved you; go in peace” (vs. 50).
The
best example of a man of faith in the Old Testament was Abraham. He
believed [had full faith in God and His promises], so he is among
those we will find in heaven, when and if we reach there. Not only
Abraham but also his descendant Isaac, and the “wise” (Like most
of us some or most of the time) Jacob. In Tagalog, “may
pag-asa pa tayo” (There is
still hope for us).
But
there is a riches we can bring with us to heaven. The souls of our
children, if they are properly brought up by us in the admonition of
the LORD God. The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov.
22:6 KJV).
I
have proven the truth of this Bible passage personally. Being then,
in my younger days as a lawyer, handpicked by the late Rev. Veronico
T. Suan, then the Mindanao District Supervisor of the Foursquare
Gospel Church in the Philippines, to be the President and Chairman
of the Board to succeed him, at the Thompson Christian School, a
religious school founded and organized by the late Dr. Evelyn
Thompson with her husband, Rev. Arthur Thompson. 60 years ago, the
founders of the Foursquare Gospel Church in the Philippines right
here in Davao City. Our city is one among the three largest and most
progressive cities in the Philippines in terms of income and
population, and the largest city in terms of area, so it is reputed.
It may even produce a President of the Philippines by this coming
Presidential election in 2016. Only God knows.
By
the way, our illustrious Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte was used by
God in raising funds to build a three-storey fully concrete edifice
of the Thompson Christian School through the donations of business
people in Davao City, he had gathered one time in April 22, before
his daughter Sara took her oath in April 30 of that year to succeed
her father. To God be the glory! In his honor and as an everlasting
legacy from him, the school named the third floor as the “R. R.
Duterte Hall”. The “R.R.” is very significant because his
daughter Sara also became a Mayor, right after the various donations
were made, so to make sure that “honor to whom honor is due”
shall be accorded, I personally made sure that the “R.R.” before
the name Duterte was made of bronze and be embedded in the wall at
the entrance of the hall – a legacy to last for eternity.
Many
years back, being then the President and Chairman of the Board of the
school, I saw to it that our four children were enrolled in the
school so they will be “trained in the way he (they) should go, and
when he (they) are old, he (they) will not depart from it”. Praise
God, Susan, the eldest became a lawyer, having garnered, by the grace
of God, the 9th
place in the Bar Exam for lawyers in 1991; my Junior who placed 12th
place in the Mechanical Engineering Board Exam who graduated with
honors in law degree became a lawyer too; Neil an Electrical
Engineer became a lawyer too, having passed the Bar examinations with
a grade of 86%; and last but not the least Vilma, who became a
Registered Nurse in the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and the
United States of America, and right now serving as Department Head in
a specialized hospital in California, U.S.A. Susan, the bar
topnotcher, after an intervening term from my term as President and
Chairman of the Board of the school, was elected to the same
positions. She holds the positions up to this day, while I remain a
member of the Board.
Lest
I be misunderstood, I relate these achievements of our children not
to brag but to prove the truth
that when we train our children in the way they should go, the
blessing of God will necessarily follow as night follows day. It is
good to send our children to a Christian school where true Christian
values are made part of the curriculum.
Children are our wealth
or heritage from God, provided we train them in the fear and
admonition of the Lord.
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