‘Things Can Only Get Better’ was the song that epitomised the general election campaign of a British political party in the late 1990’s, inspiring many people to vote for that party, hoping for improvement. And I guess that ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ is the hope and desire of the whole British people today as we slowly and gradually ease out of lockdown and self-isolation.
We are told that the situation could go either way in the coming days; it may continue to improve, or there may be a new spike of Covid-19 if we don’t listen to and obey the Government’s recommendations. No one really knows what will happen, neither scientists nor politicians ~ it appears to be rather a messy gamble! So, in the midst of anxiety and worry, loneliness and isolation, we hope for better things.
But for Christian people, those who know and love the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, there is so much more than hope for the future. For as we walk in obedience, hand in hand with ‘Our Father Who lives in heaven’ and as we pray as Jesus taught His disciples, ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,’ the Lord God Himself gives us an amazing, wonderful sense of absolute assurance.
This God-given assurance brings a strength and a security, a peace and a joy for we know that whatever happens, our King, the Lord Jesus, will build His Kingdom in our lives as we trust Him and walk with Him. So, we pray confidently ‘Your Kingdom come … on earth as in heaven’.
What do we know of this ‘heavenly Kingdom’? The Bible, which is God’s word to us here and now, tells us quite explicitly that heaven is a place where there is:
no suffering,
no pain,
no sin,
no guilt,
no tears,
no violence,
no death,
no mourning,
no lies,
no evil,
no darkness
all of which we experience in this life.
The reason God’s Son, our Lord Jesus came to this earth and died on the cross in our place, was to set us free from our sin and slavery to evil and bring us into His eternal, heavenly Kingdom which gives us: forgiveness, love, peace, joy, new healthy bodies, safety, harmony, security, beauty, reconciliation to our Heavenly Father and life with Him for ever; just how God originally created us to be and to live.
So, as we face the future, however uncertain and insecure it looks here on earth, if we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, knowing and submitting to His Kingship and Lordship in our lives, He gives us a foretaste, the first fruits of His Heavenly Kingdom, while we continue to struggle here on earth.
This is the most wonderful gift we could ever be given ~ and the most needed in the world today.
There is another famous song from a few decades ago, ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’.
As we move forward during these next days and weeks, and none of us knows how long we have here on earth, there are basically two groups of people. We are either in the group where people are living in anxious hope for the best or we are in the group where folk are living in total assurance, for they know the Lord Jesus and are trusting Him with their lives for their time in this world and for eternity in the next.
So, are you hoping that ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ or do you have absolute assurance of a glorious future in the Lord Jesus, for you know, without a shadow of doubt, that ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’?
Jesus said to the repentant criminal dying on the cross next to Him, ‘Today, you will be with Me in paradise.’ What a blessed assurance! Do you have that assurance or are you just living in hope?
Ron Brickman