Heaven

No More Tears

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Often when I read the 23rd Psalm I think of God being with me in the valley. My mind conjures up a scene of Him walking beside me. Though He is always with us the story the psalmist is telling is that He is our shepherd. A shepherd always goes before the sheep.

Our Shepherd Jesus has gone ahead of us through tears as He wept with his friends. He has gone first through Gethsemane’s sorrow and then Calvary’s suffering. He has gone ahead to the throne with His sacrifice and He waits our arrival with the reward of an eternal life with Him.

That is why He can most tenderly wipe away any tear. There He will heal all disease. He will restore every loss. He will last of all remove even the shadows of death and lead us by the River of the water of Life. What a promise we have and what an amazingly Good Shepherd we follow!

All the Way With Christ

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Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11‭-‬13 NKJV

Contentment is not like a parking space where we can get out saying “I have arrived” Contentment is a dynamic relationship with Christ – He alone is the endless source of renewable energy who will keep us running all the way home to Heaven’s door.

Faces

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1

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Back in 2016 the Olympic flame was carried by over 10,000 runners. The torch run which began in the capital city of Brasilia went the distance of 20,000 kilometers throughout the nation to in Rio de Janeiro. Some of the way they passed through city neighborhoods lined with crowds and others over empty farmland and forest. All along the way the torch bearers ran till Vanderlei de Lima lit the flame before a crowd of over 60,000 in Maracanã Stadium.

In that same way as we run the race of our Christian life there are some lonely times. It feels as if the finish line in Heaven’s capital city is impossibly far away. God’s word encourages us to recall that God has a stadium there also filled with the faces of those who have carried their torches before us. We have parents, and pastors, brothers, sisters, wives and children waiting and cheering us on. They weren’t all saintly and perfect people but they carried the torch to the end. They climbed the steps to the throne of God and left everything behind to finish their race. In the light of their flame of faith I can see their faces and reKIMG1137minded to trust that God will help me run my own leg of the journey one more day!