When Does A Blessing Seem Like A Burden?

WHEN DOES A BLESSING SEEM LIKE A BURDEN?   ~   A few months ago, I would have said, "Never!"   However, after spending a month packing, a hard day moving with the help of my church family and personal family, then this past week finishing up the move of smaller items and cleaning with Dory and our daughter, Lana - and now the task of making my books and computer, not to mention myself - fit into my new home - I am beginning to wonder about some of my blessings.

Roll back about 25 years and I lost most of my personal library in a storage facility mess up.  So when we moved to Riverside 21 years ago - I had a minimal library.  Then the new blessings began.  First I discovered the Corona Public Library's "Friends Of The Library" bookstore.  Wow!   A whole room full of donated books I could sift through for books of good content and in good condition - at very good prices.  Thus began the rebuilding of the Bill Gray library.

Then about 18 years ago, a dear Christian sister, Minda Zin, invited us to her children's piano recital at California Baptist University on a beautiful Saturday.  As Dory and I parked and started walking toward the auditorium, I noticed boxes of books in the trash dumpster.  I took Dory into the auditorium, seated her, and went back to do some "dumpster diving."   Just imagine the view of a 6'3" guy, dressed in nice casual clothing - doing the "upside down dumpster crawl."

I found seven boxes of books, about 200, mostly commentaries and many in near new condition.  I was in book lover heaven!  I put those seven boxes of books in our car - and later told Dory, "You are lucky there were only seven boxes.  If there had been eight boxes - you would have had to walk home!"    Okay, I was exaggerating.  I would not have made her walk home.  I would have come back for her after I took my new library home.  After all, I love her, too.

When I got home and had time to explore my newfound treasures, I found that these books I found in the trash dumpster had been the personal library of a pastor.  I have no idea why they were thrown in the dumpster or what happened to the pastor.  Even today that is still a mystery for me.  So today I decided to see if I can solve that mystery.  This is what I found:

Trevie Dean Named To Direct Lifeway Fund-Raising Effort Posted Tuesday, April 27, 1999

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Trevie C. Dean, vice president for institutional advancement at California Baptist University, Riverside, has accepted the newly created position of director of capital resources at LifeWay Christian Resources, effective June 1.

Before joining California Baptist University in 1985, Dean served as church business administrator/minister of education at Woods Chapel Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas; adjunct instructor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; and instructor at Pacific Christian College, Fullerton, Calif. He has served as pastor, staff member, and interim pastor in other California churches.

He holds a B.A. degree in religion and B.S. degree in business administration from California Baptist University. He also earned master's degrees in divinity and religious education from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, Calif., and a doctorate in education from Southwestern Seminary.

Mystery partially solved.  I still have no idea why someone threw his personal library in the trash dumpster.  But several Christian sisters at our Fil-Am Church of Corona (now CICF), Minda Zin and Rachel Quintans, had a suggestion.  They suggested that God was pleased with my Christian writing ministry - and gave me this instant commentary library to help make my writings more effective.

That could be, but I was, and still am, very happy that for whatever reason Trevie Dean's library was dumped - I was the one whom God allowed to find it. 

I will close with one funny short story.   Years ago when a pastor friend became aggravated at me (over something I wrote with which he disagreed), he made the caustic comment, "You and your trash can library!"   Hey, we are all human and, yes, a pastor can get angry at times like all the rest of us.  Jesus got angry, why not a pastor?  I still consider him my friend.

So, why did this blessing seem like a burden?   Ask all the guys who helped me move a thousand books - and I might add, very heavy books.  On moving day, to one of our younger brothers from church, I commented, "Bet you never thought education could be so heavy, did you?"               

God has truly blessed me.  First with a good library and then with Christian brothers and sisters to move it.  And one of these days when I finally get it all organized again - I will really be singing, well most likely dancing for I am not much of a singer, for joy.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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How Old Will We Be In Heaven?

Today I received an e-mail from the "What Christians Want To Know" ministry and it raised a question which I am sure that all believers have thought at some time, maybe even asked of another Christian friend, "How old will we be in heaven?"  I'll bet you have wondered that also.  So, what do you think?  Does the Bible give any clues?

This question made me think and I immediately knew I wanted to share it with all my Friends.  But first I had to check out the Statement of Faith of the person, or ministry, who wrote the blog - for I never want to share material from a ministry which promotes any level of false or erroneous teaching.  And I have found over the years that I enjoy reading the "What We Believe" or "Statement of Faith" page of different ministries. 

I find that, even though we most often hold to the same Essential Christian Doctrines, i.e., those doctrines upon which our eternal salvation rests - it is interesting to read the many different paths folks will take to explain their understanding of those same essential beliefs.  Some state their beliefs in very short, curt, but accurate statements.  While others will go to greater lengths to explain each belief.

I truly enjoyed reading the "What We Believe" statements of the Brethren Church where the blog below originated.  Let me give you a brief example.  This is the opening sentence in their explanation of Salvation:  "Salvation is both an event and a process: it is an accomplished fact, a continuing walk, and a future hope."

That is so true.  The event is our Justification, the moment we believe and receive Christ as our Lord and Savior (John 1:12).  At that very instance, we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit, i.e, He begins to live within us - we are immediately adopted into the family of God - and we immediately HAVE eternal life in Christ, never ending life in Christ.

The process is our Sanctification, our lifelong spiritual growth as we daily, through prayer and the study of God's Word, mature in our knowledge of God's Word and in our daily walk of faith and obedience.
"It is an accomplished fact - Justification  ~  a continuing walk - Sanctification  ~  and a future hope - Glorification."

With that in mind, you may want to visit their "What We Believe" page and read it for yourself:

What We Believe
https://www.brethrenchurch.org/salvation

With that brief (no laughing please) introduction, let me share the question for today from the "What Christians Want To Know" ministry, found in this blog from Pastor Jack Wellman of Mulvane Brethren Church:

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How Old Will We Be In Heaven?
Pastor Jack Wellman
Mulvane Brethren Church, Mulvane, Kansas
https://faithinthenews.com/how-old-will-we-be-in-heaven/

Does the Bible say what our age will be once we enter the kingdom of heaven?

Eternal Life:  When someone asks what my age will be in heaven, my only answer is that I know life will never end because Jesus promised, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).  The first and most important question is, "Have you trusted in Christ?  Has God brought you to repentance?  And have you placed your trust in Him?" 

The question of what age we will be in heaven is irrelevant for those who haven’t been born again.  They will never know the answer to that question - (until they have answered) the most important question of all - "Have you trusted in Christ?"  How people answer that question determines their eternal destiny.  So I would ask them if they believe in Jesus Christ and if they have trusted in Him.  All other questions are insignificant compared to this one.  But if you’ve been born again, then you might have wondered how old you will be in heaven.  What does the Bible say about this, if anything?

The Optimum Age:   Most agree that the age of 30-33 is the optimum time when we reach our mental and physical peak.  At age 30 Jesus entered into His earthly ministry.  (In the Old Testament Jewish culture) Men could not even enter the Levitical priesthood until they were the age of 30.  But does this mean this is the age we will be when we enter into glory? 

And what about babies who die before they’re old enough to understand what repentance and faith are (Mark 1:15)?  How old will a baby who dies here on earth be in the kingdom?  Besides how can a young child know enough to be saved if they can’t even talk or read?  All I know for certain is the Bible is silent on this subject.  We cannot say for certain, but many believe we’ll revert to the age of 30-33 after we die and enter the kingdom of heaven, or if Jesus returns before we die. 

It would seem logical because that’s the average age of a human’s greatest mental and physical potential.  However older people are still growing and can increase their spiritual and biblical knowledge.  The truth is it takes a lifetime of sanctification to grow in holiness.  So old age doesn’t mean a person’s less spiritual.  In fact, they may be more so as they age.

Be Like Him:   Every Christian should have the desire to be more like Christ day after day.  Interestingly the Bible teaches that we will be like Him in ways.  Certainly not in His resplendent glory (or deity), but we will have glorified bodies.  The Apostle John wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).  John clearly says that we’ll be like Jesus after we’ve entered the kingdom of heaven.  But what age will we be - and what age will Jesus be?

Of course in Jesus’ humanity He only lived until about 33 years of age.  So we would expect that Jesus, in His physical appearance, will be like that of a 33-year-old male.  But of course, He is God too - so we can only draw our conclusion so far, before we’re walking on air, having no Scriptural support for what our age will be.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49). 

So as the Apostle John wrote, and the Apostle Paul agrees, we will be like Him (Jesus) but not in all of His magnificent glory.  We will be like Him in many other ways, like having a body that can’t die or have disease anymore.  We’ll never run the risk of death again - and the best part of all, we will sin no more! 

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote many years ago that “all will rise in the condition of perfect age, which is of thirty-two or thirty-three years.  This is because all who were not yet arrived at this age, did not possess this perfect age, and the old had already lost it.  Hence, youths and children will be given what they lack, and what the aged once had will be restored to them.”  But he did not, nor could he, provide specific Bible verses to prove his point.  Right now we can only guess.  Since the Bible is silent on this subject, then we must be also.

Conclusion:   Again we return to the most important question of your life: "Have you repented and placed your faith in Christ?" Remember that Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51).  So “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). 

Either it is life - or - it is God’s wrath.  Both are eternal.  Your future depends on whether you’ve believed in the Son of God or not.  No other question even comes close in importance.  What do you say?  Have you believed?  If so, you have eternal life.  And what that age will be, who cares - because we will be in the presence of the Lord for time without end (Revelation 21:3, 22:4).  That’s satisfying enough for me.  So I don’t have to worry about what age I will be in heaven.  I’ll just be glad to be there.  May God richly bless you.

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So, what do you think?  I like the suggestion that, possibly, we will be about 33 years old in heaven, since we are told that we will be like Him (1 John 3:2) - and we know that He was 33 years old when He was crucified for us, rose to assure our resurrection, and ascended into heaven where He is our only Mediator and Advocate between us and God the Father.

However I agree with Pastor Jack, that in this life we should be daily striving to be more like Him, to daily grow more mature in our faith, and to do all we can to point others toward this eternal security we have in Christ - for when we get to heaven the greatest blessing is that we are there, in His presence, eternally.

The biggest question we as believers should have is not our age in heaven, but, "What have I done today to fulfill the Great Commission ministry He has given to me and to all Christian believers?"

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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