Jeff Moen, Foxholm

I have a question. Don’t want any answers or show of hands. Just give it some thought. What is your #1 priority or goal in Life.

For some of us, it may be that promotion at work, get that manager’s position or whatever. For others, it may be as simple as getting married and raising a family. Just have a job and be an average American citizen. For some of us who farm, maybe we want to own that parcel of land that Dad and Grandpa always thought would be a good addition to the Farm. Still, others may want to travel the world as an important executive for a large company.

But here is another thought. How about accepting Jesus and the promise of Eternal Life. Just think, it is free of charge, doesn’t matter what color your skin is, or how much money you have, it is free of charge. Jesus already paid the price, with all His precious blood on the Cross. He paid in full for all our transgressions, and all we have to do is believe in Him and accept Him. That’s it, no strings attached. All our sins forgiven

Most of us like to think or at least hope that heaven with Jesus is our final destination. And it may very well be. You could consider it as planning a trip. First question, of course, is how to get there.

I have never seen a map with the road all laid out. How many of us have spent time online or at a travel agent, planning a trip to somewhere with nice weather and sandy beaches with all their glamour, or just across the country to see friends or relatives. Therefore, planning a trip to heaven could possibly involve some extensive planning and some serious forethought.

Then, there is the issue of dying. Usually, if not always, life comes before death. But in this case, we must know how to die, believing in Christ Jesus and having him in our heart, before we can possibly know how to live. How can we possibly know how to live, if we do not know how to die. Death, if we are properly prepared, can be a glorious and fulfilling experience. So I have read and been told. But we must know how to die before we can possibly know how to live. The key is to be prepared. I have been told that heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Let us all do our best to be prepared.

There will be a new heaven and a new Earth, completely resurrected from the old Earth under the fall and the curse, just as all believers will have a new and resurrected body. So, there is a lot to think about.

What do we want to do in life, where are our priorities and how do we make all this happen. Believe in Christ Jesus with all your heart and soul. Then live in such a fashion so that when the time comes to leave this Earth we can be properly prepared. Remember, we simply can not know how to live if we do not know how to die.

I know, people may wonder why I think I know so much, and I am just as full of sin and unclean as everybody else. The only one who ever walked on this planet and was without sin was Jesus. Therefore, everybody, and I mean everybody, is just as guilty of sin as the next. But by God’s plan for salvation and resurrection, Jesus bore the sin of the whole world, and through the shedding of His precious blood on the cross He died to forgive all our sin. As this Easter season approaches, we ask God to help us remember the real reason for Easter, and how blessed we really are to have a Lord and Savior in our life.

Jesus really did make it quite simple. It is hard to believe as sinful as we all are, that God truly does love us. But the Bible, in John 3:16, tells us that God so loved us, that He gave His only son to die, to see to it that we will have eternal life if only we believe in Him. For Jesus, “God made man,” did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it. He came as a ransom for many. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Thanks be to God.