God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

In our last two posts from the book of Acts we looked at how Paul (and Daniel, and Peter, and Jesus) navigated the politics of his day. (If you’re interested, you can learn more here: “St. Paul and Politics Part 1”. And here: “St. Paul and Politics Part 2”. In today’s post we’ll see how the way we view eternity impacts our lives here on earth.

Acts 23:6-10

Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

Pharisees vs. Sadducees

So Paul’s before the Sanhedrin, the highest religious court in Israel. And these men who Paul stood before consisted of two groups, Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees believed in a second life, an eternal life, after life here on earth. But the Sadducees believed this was it, no life after death, just a fade-to-black if you will. So Paul appeals to the Pharisees in the group when he says, “It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

Life With Eternity vs. Life Without Eternity

All I want to say about our passage today is this:

Our life here on earth–without eternity–makes absolutely no sense.

Unjust suffering makes no sense. Natural disasters make no sense. The hamster wheel of existence makes no sense. Our battle against entropy makes no sense. The longing we have for eternity with Jesus, or the “true country,” as C. S. Lewis puts it, makes no sense.

Jesus once said,

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24

So if Jesus is who he said he was and if eternity is what he said it is and if you’ve give yourself to Him, then this life is like an hour in the dentist’s chair. That hour might be absolutely miserable. But then a day goes by, and then a week, and then a month. And now you’re on to other things. The dentist has done his work and you barely even think about that hour anymore. A year from now and you don’t think about it at all. Five years from now and you might have forgotten about it altogether.

Maybe your life is as miserable as ever. But if you gave yourself to Jesus, how will you feel about this life, your hour in the dentist’s chair if you will, 1,000 years into eternity? And after 10,000 years? 100,000 years? 1,000,000 years?

In light of heaven and eternity, St. Teresa of Avila likened this life to one night in a bad hotel.

What I’ve observed in myself before I was a believer, and what I observe in people who are in agreement with the Sadducees view of life, a life without eternity, is we descend into dark places at worst, or we live lives that are shallow at best.

But the people I observe who give their whole selves to Jesus, and follow him closely, live rich, deep, beautiful lives.

I hope you’ll join me in pursuing a life like that. A deep, rich, beautiful life. A life filled with inspiration from Jesus and his closest followers. A life of following Jesus closely and loving like Jesus.

“Father, please have mercy on me and on the dear person reading this right now. Prepare us for what comes after this life, prepare us for our eternal existence with You. Fill us with an awareness of our eternal existence with Jesus after this life. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we can please You in everything we do in this life. Make our lives deep for You. Fill us with the deep abiding love of Jesus for You and for others.

“In Jesus’ name we ask this of You.

“Amen.”

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:16-18

Notes:

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Published by HarperCollins, (pp. 135-137)

The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Washington, D.C., ICS Publications, 2017 (p. 195)

Image of the searching man via herdiephoto — Creative Commons

Available on Google Play Books and on Amazon!

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)