| All This— And Heaven, Too?! We don’t need to wait until we die to find out if Jesus told us the truth. When you look at this man, Jesus Christ, what do you see? Do you like what you see? What are the dimensions that make him this fabulous person? We see in him marvelous self-control, a marvelous sense of his identity—he didn’t have to prove himself to other people; he didn’t have to play tricks just to satisfy someone’s curiosity. They could call him names, and he didn’t have to get defensive—he knew who he was. He had a marvelous sense of worth—he knew that his Father was attending to him.[263] We see him as an individual who could love and be loved. We see him being secure—he wasn’t threatened by the things most people are threatened by. He wasn’t afraid of the threats of his enemies, and the names they called him never ruffled him. He was a happy person—he would hum and sing. He never murmured, never uttered discontent, displeasure, or resentment. He was never disheartened, discouraged, ruffled, or fretted. He was patient, calm, and self-possessed under the most exciting and trying circumstances. He had a kingly bearing, a dignity that nothing could touch. People found him so friendly and his company so pleasant that they flocked to be near him. Even children and animals loved to be around him. While living in the most inauspicious circumstances, he had a radiant happiness. While he was not always happy with a situation, nothing ever made him react. He was firmly grounded; nothing could shake him. He was patient and calm regardless of whatever commotion was around him. Would you like to be this kind of person? Would you like to have these qualities? Jesus said, “You can be as happy and peaceful as I am. I will show you how: the key is love. I am the way, the truth, and the life.”[264] He is the way—how he lived is truth and life. “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.”[265] The benefits of living this way are reward enough. It is the only way to live. This is why we can exclaim in gratitude, “All this—and Heaven, too?!” Heaven is the icing on the cake! Is God Boring? Satan wants us to believe that living like Jesus will take away all our “fun.” Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly!”[266] Not a boring, restricted existence, but a happy, full, exuberant life! “All these things God has commanded us for our good always!”[267] God doesn’t want to withhold anything from us. But just as drug addicts fight those trying to save them from their self-destructive “high,” we fight God when we think he is trying to take our “fun” away. Jesus said, “I am not a thief—Satan is the one who only wants to kill, steal and destroy. I came to give.”[268] “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”[269] “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.”[270] |
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| 263 John 8:29 264 John 17:13, John 14:27, John 13:17, John 15:11, John 14:6 265 Isaiah 32:17 266 John 10:10 267 Deuteronomy 6:24 268 see John 10:10 269 Psalm 84:11 270 Psalm 34:10 |
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