Happy Thanksgiving month. Remember to “live” thanks all month, not just on the Big Day.
For this blog, I want to share a sample of a weekly “Smiling Icon Rudder” Scripture I send out on Mondays to serve as a “rudder” for your weekly work in the marketplace. It often includes a bit of an inspirational, and a Bible study link as well.
I thought I’d share it with you this month, and if you’re interested in receiving it weekly, just let me know at info@smilingicon.com.
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Life is But a Dream… and a School, Too!
A sweet little old lady I served as a chaplain for in a hospice setting gave me a bit of insight that I’d always expected was true, but was confirmed by a near-death experience she had at one time. She met a niece who had died an untimely death and was in heaven way before everyone else, including this aunt..
This lady says she was at the end of her near-death experience, was beginning her return trek to this life, and the niece looked at her and smiled. “Aunt So-and-so,” she said. “I want to let you in on something.”
“This life (the one you’re going back to) is not all there is.”
It’s not even the main life there is.”
And then she added, “This life is just a school.”
In other words, our first taste of conscious life is not only an amazing standalone experience in its own right.
It is a just school, a place for learning and growing, for what our real life will be like in eternity.
This life is just a school.
And the best is yet to come.
What will your life be like in the world to come?
What is it that God has in store for you, for me, for all of us?
What lesson will you be learning in the marketplace this week?
So maybe whatever will happen is not to demonstrate what a disaster you are and how you’ve done it once again!
Maybe it’s because God loves you so much, He’s taking you to the next level.
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)
So maybe this life is just a school.
And just remember that the Teacher, Principal, Counselor, and Coach is also our brother and best friend. And when you need to, you can even ask him for recess.
This week’s Bible Study
Listen here: Luke 6:1-11
We have no idea how important and also how unimportant we are. We’re important because God has called us sons of God, and we’ve got no idea what is ours in Him. But here is how we are less important than we think we are. Ever since we chose the “tree of knowledge,” we think our choices, our obedience, our self-discipline, our getting ourselves saved by our self-efforts are way more important than they are. They aren’t. Jesus did all of the above for us. We didn’t “get” salvation by what we said at some point. We “got” saved by Jesus at the cross. And because of that, God has created a way for us all to receive everything He is. So that’s why Jesus gets downright angry at legalism. And why does He keep pounding the point? “I AM” — the Lord of all — even of the Sabbath.