You Only Live Twice
“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)
One of the most successful TV commercials of all time says ''You only go around once in life, so you have to grab for all the gusto you can get!”
That is a suitable moto for both the believer and unbeliever. God has given that life, so you might as well live it to its fullest potential. Nevertheless the truth of the Scripture is more in line with the title of the 1967 James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice”.
All people will live twice. Once as a mortal where we experience the difference between good and evil and then die and give God an accounting as to how we lived it. I am convinced that perfect attendance in Church won’t count for much. I think that what will matter to God is whether you left this “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4) a little better just because you lived in it.
“So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God…For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” (Romans 14:12; Matthew 16:27)
The Second life is a gift from God just as the first, however, it is a “new creation” and never ending in a sinless, immortal body composed of 100% Spirit. As an immortal, we will be blessed beyond measure by boundless "riches of Christ"….and we all will then be "in Christ" and like him!
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here…this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ… Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 3:8; 1 John 3:2-3)
So why do people live like the devil…well in my opinion it is because they have not been told the truth so they have no hope.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed” (Titus 2:11-12)
One of the most successful TV commercials of all time says ''You only go around once in life, so you have to grab for all the gusto you can get!”
That is a suitable moto for both the believer and unbeliever. God has given that life, so you might as well live it to its fullest potential. Nevertheless the truth of the Scripture is more in line with the title of the 1967 James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice”.
All people will live twice. Once as a mortal where we experience the difference between good and evil and then die and give God an accounting as to how we lived it. I am convinced that perfect attendance in Church won’t count for much. I think that what will matter to God is whether you left this “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4) a little better just because you lived in it.
“So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God…For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” (Romans 14:12; Matthew 16:27)
The Second life is a gift from God just as the first, however, it is a “new creation” and never ending in a sinless, immortal body composed of 100% Spirit. As an immortal, we will be blessed beyond measure by boundless "riches of Christ"….and we all will then be "in Christ" and like him!
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here…this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ… Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 3:8; 1 John 3:2-3)
So why do people live like the devil…well in my opinion it is because they have not been told the truth so they have no hope.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed” (Titus 2:11-12)