Episode 118 - Facing Death with Hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Sweet Selah Moments Podcast

We do not grieve as those who have no hope. In our grief as Christians, we have the sure hope of Heaven to steady us. Sharon and Nicole talk about death, today, and the beauty of resurrection. Join them for a hope-filled look at a passage of scripture and listen in for practical applications for everyday life.

Read the transcript for Facing Death with Hope-Episode 118

Speaker 1:

It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole, we pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole:

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments podcast. This is episode 118, “Facing Death with Hope”. Christians look at death very differently than those who don’t believe in an afterlife. We have hope, even when someone dies, that we will see them again. We have a sense of urgency, too. We want our loved ones to know that through Jesus’s sacrificial death, they can pass from death to life again. So we share our faith often with others. It’s a wonderful thing not to have to fear death.

Sharon:

Oh, it is. It really is. Although, quite frankly, I fear the pain that might come before the death. I think we all vote for quietly going to bed one night, and Jesus just kind of tapping our shoulder and saying, ‘come with me now.’ You know.

Nicole:
Sounds really nice.

Sharon:
Doesn’t that sound beautiful? And just kind of step outta your body and hold his hand.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

But you know, we can’t choose that. And sometimes the Lord allows pain for reasons beyond my understanding. He just does. But anyways, death itself for a Christian is simply a door that opens into eternity with the Lord Jesus. It’s actually kind of exciting when you think about it. Sometimes I get excited about it. My girls get mad at me. They’re like, “Mom, stop it.”

Nicole:
I’m so excited about that.

Sharon:

I’m like, I’m just excited. You know? But anyways, we talked about this before with Lazarus, you know, who was dead four days, and then he has to come back. And we both felt sorry for him, you know,

Nicole:
And maybe he was really nice. Did he wanna come back?

Sharon:

Exactly. I have a dear friend right now whose, mom is in her nineties, and she’s had multiple heart issues. And she’s finally decided, you know what? I’m not gonna ask to die. I’ll live as long as God lets me live. But I no longer want extraordinary things to be done to my body, so my heart beats again. When it stops, I’m gonna trust that God stopped it. Right?

Nicole: Right.

Nicole:

So, and she has children and all the children know the Lord. And so she called them around, she called her husband around, and she said, I’ve made the decision that if my heart stops, don’t you start it again. I’m ready to go home to Jesus. And they all kind of cried, but agreed. They’re like, ‘Yeah, mom, we know you’re ready to see him.’ So that, that’s how we ought to be as Christians. You know, not, I don’t, I do not believe in suicide. You know, even in the last little bit of life. I do believe we should live every day God gives us. But I completely support not, not asking to be made to live longer than, you know, one’s heart holds out. I think that’s really good. I love her attitude.

Nicole:

Oh, I know. And that attitude can only come from a peace in Christ. ’cause how can we sit? I’m like, oh, yeah, sure, mom, if you wanna die, that’s fine. Like, what? No, I’m saving you whether you like it or not, you know?

Sharon:
That’s right. I need you around till you’re 117.

Nicole:
Right. Even if you’re miserable.

Sharon:
And the mom is like, really?

Nicole:

No, I love that though. I think when I think about death, I also really worry about the pain part. I really hope I don’t go flying off a bridge into cold water or something terrible. I like to just pass in my sleep.

Sharon: Yes, please.

Nicole:

Actually, um, Josh’s grandfather passed about a year ago, and he had such a beautiful death. He had all his children around. He was on hospice for a little bit. He went downhill fairly quickly. And They realized that like, kind of with, you know, there’s nothing else we can do. Let’s just keep him comfortable. Sends him home. So he had this nice comfy bed in the middle of the living room, and all his children and grandchildren were telling him stories and making his favorite desserts in the kitchen right there next to the living room.

Sharon: I love it.

Nicole:

And giving him little taste of cookies. And he had been diabetic for a few years, so I think he was rather enjoying the sweets all of a sudden! You know? And I just, they kept sending us pictures of his wife snuggled next to him in the, in the living. I said, Josh, that’s how I wanna go.

Sharon: Yes.

Nicole:

With all my family just right there just loving on me. And he just would smile and he was in some pain, and they would give him some medicine, but he just passed in such a beautiful way.

Sharon:
That’s lovely. It is. And that’s a Christian family affirming that it’s not goodbye. It’s, see you later, honey.

Nicole: Yeah. Right.

Nicole: Oh, sure.

Sharon:
See you later.

Nicole:
And there’s still tears.

Sharon:
You lucky dog. You’re going before us.

Nicole:

You get to go first. But even amidst the tears, there’s still that like, but he’s, he’s out of pain now. Grandpa is there first. And so it was just, it’s kind of cool. I mean, I think as a young mom, my heart always squeezes when I think of leaving my family.

Sharon: Yes. Yes.

Nicole:

Its hard. Like, oh, my babies, who’s gonna take care of them? And my husband, how’s he gonna find where he uniforms are hidden in the back of the closet for the kids if they’re not organized. So I worry about that. But there really is a peace even in that I know that God’s got them.

Sharon:
He’s got them, he does.

Nicole:

He loves them more than I do. And he’s got a plan even through that pain. Maybe it’s supposed to be for a reason.

Sharon:

Yeah. One of my favorite books, I don’t know if you’ve ever read Kara Tippett’s book, the name of the book’s escaping me right now, but she had breast cancer and she did die. And, and she was very honest, because she had young children. And she did not want to leave. Who would?

Nicole: I know.

Sharon:

You know, but towards the end of her journey, she said, you know, I’m telling my husband, you are an awesome husband. You need to marry again. And you’re too good at husbanding to not to do it again.

Nicole:
Keep it all to yourself.

Sharon:
And like, now there’s selflessness.

Nicole:
No kidding. I don’t know if I’m there yet.

Sharon:

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Well, she walked a rough journey to get there. But it’s a great book. And if I ever remember the title, I’ll let you know.

Nicole:
Yeah. That’s so interesting.

Sharon:

So, yeah. Well, I just love the passage we’re about to read. Last week we read Paul’s advice on how to live wisely. Now he’s gonna talk to us a bit about how to die well, really. Let’s face it, we’re all gonna die. This actually applies to everyone.

Nicole: That’s true.

Sharon:

So we are reading First Thessalonians four 13 to 18. And I will start us with verse one, except that it won’t be verse one, it will be verse 13. What in the world, the first verse of this section. 13.

Nicole:
The three must have got deleted.

Sharon:

That was so silly. “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died. So you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

Nicole:

For a sense, we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again. We also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

Sharon:

We tell you this directly from the Lord. We who are still living when the Lord returns, will not meet him ahead of those who have died.

Nicole:

For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout with the voice of the archangel. And with the trumpet call of God, first the believers who have died will rise from their graves.

Sharon:

Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

Nicole:
So encourage each other with these words.”

Sharon:
Wow. This is actually a lot to unpack.

Nicole:
There’s a lot there.

Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So I’m gonna start with verse 13. And we’re not theologians. But we’ll do our best.

Nicole:

So bear with us!

Sharon:

Yes, that’s right. Yep. But we are of the firm opinion that the word is for every person, even Nicole and Sharon.

Nicole: Absolutely.

Sharon:

And that we can learn from it despite our lack of seminary degrees. And we are thankful for pastors and churches.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
’cause we can run to them when we need help too.

Nicole:
Oh, sure. Yeah.

Sharon:

So. Okay. Verse 13, “and now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died. So you will not grieve like people who have no hope.” Well, first of all, the assumption is that people will grieve. And he’s not telling them not to. So that you won’t grieve like you have no hope. Not so that you won’t grieve. Because I think…

Nicole:
oh, I acknowledge that.

Sharon:
… that would be terrible to say to someone, you know, they’re in heaven. Why are you crying?

Nicole:
Oh gosh. Yeah.

Sharon:

That’d be just so mean. You know we’re grieving their loss. We’re grieving waking up every day for the rest of our lives, not seeing them. And I have several friends who recently have lost spouses or children. Oh my goodness. And there will not be a day be, I’m gonna cry, just thinking about it between now and eternity, where they don’t wake up to that loss.

Nicole:

Oh yeah.

Sharon:
Grief is real and it’s, it’s okay. It’s part of life. And no one should be told they shouldn’t grieve.

Sharon:

However, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. And that is the thing. It’s the I’ll see you soon. I’ll see you on the other side instead of I’ve lost them forever.

Nicole:
I’ll miss you till I see you again. I’m gonna miss you dearly, but I know I’m gonna see you again.

Sharon:
I’m gonna see you again.

Nicole:
That’s so beautiful.

Sharon: Yeah.

Nicole:

And so my verse is kind of similar to that, “But for, since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again.” So there’s that hope. “We also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.” This verse is so amazing. Sometimes, like, I think, I forget how marvelous God is and how complete his rescue plan from sin was. You know, he describes it so well here that we have forgiveness and hope now from our sins, right? We are forgiven. And we have hope for eternity. And then hope for future life as well. So once we die, we get to spend time with, we’re with him forever. Yes. There’s so much hope. There’s hope in this daily life where I’m struggling to not be angry, to not be all the sins, list them all. But then when I look past my today, hope I have future hope too.

Sharon: You do.

Nicole:
That’s a lot of hope.

Sharon: Forever hope.

Nicole: Forever Hope.

Sharon:

I know and forever loved.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
That is just so crazy to me. We will never not be loved.

Nicole:

I love that. And then God will bring back with him the believers who have died. So again, hope to see our, that’s just amazing. He’s bringing them back that have died.

Sharon:
Isn’t that beautiful?

Nicole:
Just so cool.

Sharon:

I love it. I know. And here’s your mama. That you’ve lost. Or here’s your grandma, whatever. So your baby, there’s dad gamble waving at me saying, yeah, go ahead. Tell me. I told you so. There is a heaven.

Nicole:
Yeah. Oh my goodness. I can’t wait.

Sharon:

When he accepted Christ, right before he died. Oh, so good. I can’t wait to see this. Okay. Verse 15. “We tell you this directly from the Lord. We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.” Those who die. See Jesus before we do, they just do. I think of the thief on the cross who says, remember me when you get to paradise. And Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you this day, you will see me in paradise.” So that’s Luke 23:43. So somehow God takes us to heaven, even though eventually we’re also going to have new bodies made, and we’re gonna be on earth. It’s complicated. We’ll get into that in a couple of the verses that come further. But basically we are gonna see Jesus when we die. And I’ve, I’ve watched it happen. I’ve watched my mother-in-law see Jesus as she was dying.

Nicole:
Oh my gosh. That makes me cry every time.

Sharon:
Yeah. I’ve seen it. So I I’ve seen it personally. There you go. And I’m a witness.

Nicole:

And I believe! Oh goodness. And then verse 16, it becomes more fantastical. “But the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.” So all these three really big things, you know?

Sharon: Yeah.

Nicole:

First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. So it’s hard to wrap my head around that, because when you, like what you just said, when we die, we’re with Christ, but we’re gonna see them rise from their graves. I’m not sure what that’s gonna look like.

Sharon:
Isn’t that strange?

Nicole:

It’s a little startling, because all you can think of is our culture is obsessed with zombies. I’m like, I don’t think that’s a great picture of what’s gonna happen.

Sharon:
Don’t feel like that’s what’s gonna happen. No.

Nicole:

But rising from the grave has never been this beautiful picture of life. It’s always been something gross and scary.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:
So for God to take that, and it’s going to be amazing. Like, how are they gonna rise from the graves?

Sharon:

It is, it’s so fascinating. There’s some Christians that believe that what happens when we die is called soul sleep. So that basically we think we saw Jesus instantly, but actually a lot of time has passed. You know? ’cause you stay.

Nicole:
I have friends believe that.

Sharon:

But Randy Alcorn in his book “Heaven” thinks that we’re immediately caught up with Christ, but we’re not given the new body yet. And that somehow all the dust particles that were us. Because it’s not like we’re gonna stay un decomposed.

Nicole:
Right. Stay together in one big pile.

Sharon:
So, but all of them sort of reform into this new body when Jesus returns. So it’s, I don’t know.

Nicole:
Yeah. This is just gonna be amazing,

Sharon:
But it’s gonna be good.

Nicole:

I don’t know. I just think it’s gonna be a rather startling, there’ll be yelling and archangels voices. Maybe he’s gonna sing as you have a good voice and then trumpets and then dead will rise. It’s gonna be quite a moment.

Sharon:
It is going to be wild.

Nicole:
We won’t not know it’s happening.

Sharon:

That is a good point. We will definitely know it’s happening. This is not a quiet thing, which is why when I somewhere in scripture says, I think Jesus said it, when you hear the Messiah is here, or the Christ is here, don’t believe him when he comes. You’re not gonna miss it.

Nicole:
Yeah. I don’t think we could if we try.

Sharon:
No one’s gonna miss it.

Nicole:
Very exciting.

Sharon:

Woo. Okay. Verse 17, “Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” I can’t even imagine. I’ve always kind of wanted to fly, you know? I guess we will.

Nicole:

We will! I think on clouds!

Sharon:

I guess we will, just be right up there. Yeah. Jesus is supposed to return. As he left, the angels said that the disciples saw him ascend into heaven. And the angels said, why are you staring at the sky? Go back to Jerusalem. He told you what to do. But as he left, he will return. So he’s, I mean, look up, right? He is coming back. And from the east to the west, everyone will know that trumpet will sound. Whoa. So cool. And then we get kind of a further thing. I actually went to Revelation 21 for this, because when he returns from the sky, really cool things happen. So I’m gonna read Revelation 21, verses one through seven, “Then says, John, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old heaven. And the old Earth had disappeared and the sea was also gone.”

Sharon:

All Right. “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God’s home is now among his people. He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things have gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I am making everything new. And then he said to me, write this down for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. And He also said, it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end to all who are thirsty. I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings. And I will be their God. And they will be my children.”

Sharon:
I get to be a kid. I love that. I have to be grown up so often.

Nicole:
I know. It’s no fun.

Sharon:

I know. It’s just so nice to think someday I get I, well even now I’m God’s kid. It’s such a beautiful, beautiful thing. So, so basically there’s sort of heaven up there. But there’s gonna come a time where Jerusalem descends from heaven, earth and heaven are made new.

Nicole: Wow.

Sharon:
And he’s living here. But it’ll be new. And if you can figure it out, good for you.

Nicole:

It’s such a beautiful passage, but it’s like I what my little brain cannot comprehend what that means. But it sounds amazing.

Sharon:

It is. Yeah. And I suspect that even Randy Alcorn, who has researched it, has written a mammoth book on it, which I read and devoured and loved. It’s gonna be like, wait, what? You know, none of us know.

Sharon:
We can’t comprehend what we haven’t seen completely.

Nicole: Right. Yeah.

Sharon:
You know, we can’t. But wow. It’s gonna be good.

Nicole:

I’m so excited. That’d be so fun. Yes. So, and then after all of this, after all of these wonderful things to think about, I love this verse. It makes me chuckle. “So encourage each other with these words.” Like sit stew on it, talk about it. Encourage each other. On those days when um, you’re struggling. Hey, guess what? Jerusalem’s coming down in a cloud, the dead in Christ will rise. We have hope. So there’s a reminder that to look up from. We can get so caught up in the daily yuck…

Sharon:
We can, yes.

Nicole:
… That we forget to look ahead to the hope that Christ is coming back again.

Sharon:

That sure hope, it makes all the difference. And we do need to remind each other. ‘Cause you’re right. When we’re slogging along heaven seems really far away.

Nicole:
It feels huge. And just reminding ourselves that this present trouble won’t last forever.

Sharon:
It will not.

Nicole: It won’t.

Sharon:
There’s a time when he’s personally gonna wipe my tears. What?!

Nicole:
I know. I can’t get over that part. That’s so sweet.

Sharon: Ah, ya a ya.

Nicole:

We don’t have to pull ourselves together and clean our faces before we go to Jesus. We can go to him with runny mascara, tears and snotty noses. And he’s gonna say, come here, I know.

Sharon:
It’s that children thing. We get to be children and we get to be children with the best father ever.

Nicole:
Yes. Yeah. Oh, so beautiful.

Sharon:

Yeah. All right. Okay. Time to go to our three questions. I’ll start with my favorite verse and tell you why, and then we’ll see if you chose the same one. Well, I chose verse 16, the first part. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout with the voice of the archangel and with a trumpet call of God.” There’s just something so magnificent about that thought. And you already expressed it so well. There’s not really that much more I have to say about it, except that it’s gonna be like the wildest concert you’ve ever been to on steroids. It’s gonna be incredible. And for those of us that know him, the surge of joy as the Holy Spirit within us says, it’s time.

Nicole: This is it.

Sharon:
This is it. I don’t even know how we’re gonna contain the joy.

Nicole: Wow.

Sharon:
I just, woo. Oh

Nicole:
My goodness. I’m so excited.

Sharon:
So it’s just so goose bumpy. It’s so, that was my favorite.

Nicole:

Yeah. I picked a different one this time too. I love verse 18. “So encourage each other with these words.” It’s just after so much information and so much thinking about and trying to understand how will the dead in Christ rise and what will this look like? So encourage each other with these words. Like, just

remember and remind each other and talk about it. And just hold them fast even if you don’t understand them. And I don’t know exactly what all of this means. I can be encouraged by them.

Nicole:

That God has a plan bigger than me. He understands more than me. So I can safely trust him with my today and my tomorrow. Because he’s got it.

Sharon: He’s got it.

Nicole:
He’s got a great plan all planned out.

Sharon:
He’s got forever.

Nicole: He does.

Sharon:

Exactly right. Exactly right. So, yeah. And I love that the reason he said it was not so people could get into endless arguments about the minutia. Like, you know, is it, do you sleep the whole time? But then what happened to the thief? And you know, we could, we could take what was meant for encouragement and we could turn it into controversy and yelling.

Nicole:

Right. He didn’t say go and debate it endlessly and makes you understand everything perfectly for theology. He said, go and encourage each other with these words.

Sharon:
So I really like that. So, okay. This is the purpose. It’s encouragement.

Nicole:
Yeah. No, that’s really good.

Sharon:
I thought that was really good. Yeah. Well, what did you learn about God from this passage?

Nicole:
I am a little in awe of how thorough he is and just.

New Speaker:

reading through the thing, reading through this passage and seeing his salvation plan for us to the very end. This was no thrown together haphazard plan. Like, well, we can try to save him this way and see

how it goes. Every little detail has been planned out so intricately and so perfectly, we couldn’t even do this. I’m just kind of in awe of how he has, he’s so sovereign and how he has everything under his control and it’s just, it’s just a beautiful thing to, and he shares it with us.

Sharon:
And he shares it. It doesn’t stay a mystery. He shares it.

Nicole:
The whole thing. Even if He knows.

Sharon:
As much as we can figure it out.

Nicole:

Right. Even though he’s like, you’re not gonna understand any of this, but this is my plan. Like, okay, I’ll believe you.

Sharon:
I’m gonna hold onto the wipe the tears. And they’re coming back and no more death and sorrow. Got it.

Nicole:
That trumpet sounds fun. The rest, I’m just not sure. I’m just gonna trust you.

Sharon:

Exactly. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, here’s the things I learned about God. One: God will reunite us all someday. I actually will see dad Gamble again. And if Ray goes to heaven before me, I will grieve every day till I die. I know that. But at the same time, I’ll see him again. Yeah. So we’ve talked about it. You know how everybody gets their own house. We’re like, do you think God will put us next door?

Nicole:
We did talk about it.

Sharon:
We’d really like to be next door.

Nicole:

I’d like to be like friendly with you in heaven. I know we’re not married in heaven, but can we be like best buddies?

Sharon:
I know it. It’s so weird to contemplate that, isn’t it?

Nicole:
It is. It’s that’s another hard concept.

Sharon:
That’s another hard one.

Nicole:
We do not understand.

Sharon:

So, but a real refreshment to know that I will see mom Gamble again. I will see my grandma Pike again. And, and man, I, you know, I picture everybody 30. Do not ask me why. I just feel like everybody will be 30 years old.

Nicole:
I had thought that too. That’s so weird.

Sharon:
Isn’t that strange?

Nicole:

‘Cause Jesus was 30 ish and 30 is like a good age. You’re not like an adolescent. You’re not like super old. It’s like a great age.

Sharon:

Yeah. So somehow I’ve never, I can’t imagine my grandma Pike at 30, but somehow I think I’ll recognize her and it’ll be so cool. And we won’t run outta time to catch up with each other.

Nicole: I know.

Sharon:
’cause eternity.

Nicole:
We’re gonna need it too. There’s a lot of people.

Sharon:
We Oh, so many people.

Nicole:
And you and I have lots of words. So we’ll have plenty of time to talk to all the people with all our words.

Sharon:
That’s right. And if we get tired, we could take a century being quiet and we wouldn’t run outta time.

Nicole:
I’m taking a sweet selah a hundred years. So no one talked to me. I’ll be over here.

Sharon:
Shout to you in a century. Exactly.

Nicole:
Oh my goodness. I love it.

Sharon:

So, so that’s number one. Number two: the fact that Jesus will return. I know it’s been over 2000 years. I am aware. He will return and it will be victorious. And there will be trumpets. So that I learned about God. And number three: we get to live for him forever. Will never not be loved. That’s one of my favorite things,

Nicole:
Oh, that’s so cool.

Sharon:
that I’m never not loved.

Nicole: Wow.

Sharon:
I can never say, no one loves me. Ever.

Nicole:
Oh. Like can’t even have a good pity party and say that, can we?

Sharon:
Noooooo. We are loved and we’ll be loved forever.

Nicole:
Take that on my kids’ list.

Sharon: Yay.

Nicole: That’s great.

Sharon:

So, okay. What did I learn about living wisely in troubled times? Well, when we realized what is to come, eternal life of Christ, and a triumphant return when all will be made right. We can endure today’s troubles. We have a sure hope. Death doesn’t win. And that’s, that’s how we live wisely with this. We walk beyond the slog. And we see the bright future. And there’s wisdom in that. Now we still have to slog. We still have to control our bodies. Like we talked last week, we still have to do hard things. But sort of shining over all of it is that sure hope of heaven.

Nicole:
Oh, that’s so true.

Sharon:

And it makes you happy even when you’re sad. Because you know, it ends well. Isn’t it nice? I mean, my mom, my mom is terrible with books, Nicole. She always peaks at the last page.

Nicole:
Oh, does She? That’s scandalous!

Sharon:

Yes. If it’s not happy, she won’t read the book. But God must understand this because he’s telling us how it ends.

Nicole:
Oh, just for your mom. Your mum.

Sharon:
For the people like my mom that like, I need to know how it ends or I don’t wanna do this.

Nicole:
That’s so funny.

Sharon:
Yeah. Oh, she’s so bad. I’m like, ‘you did not.’ She said, ‘I had to darling. What if it hadn’t ended well?’

Nicole:
But then, you know, and it would just, oh, that’s too funny. Bless her.

Sharon:

She’s so cute. Oh my goodness. I love my mom. So how about you? What did you learn about living wisely in troubled times?

Nicole:

Fairly similar. You know, in these hard times to look up, you know, look ahead. Jesus will return and we will see our loved ones again. And we will spend forever with him and with, you know, and with those that love him too. And we can, the thing that I always get stuck on is we’re in this slog. We’re in the

yuck. And I can choose to live in my flesh in that moment. And, or I could choose to live in his spirit and remember these things. And either way, the stuff still has to get done. Right.

Sharon: This is true.

Nicole:
I had a terrible yesterday. I’ll have to tell you real quick.

Sharon:
Oh, you had a terrible yesterday.

Nicole:
I have a robot vacuum, which I love. And it, I push a button and it vacuums my floor for me.

Sharon: Ooohhhh.

Nicole:

It’s magic. I love. I named her Rosie, like the robot from the Jetsons. So Rosie vacuums my house and I love her. I put little googly eyes on her and she’s just my favorite little thing.

Sharon:
You put eyes on her.

Nicole: I did.

Sharon:
That’s hysterical.

Nicole:

She’s my little pet. ’cause she was, before I had dogs. And so I had let the dogs outside, brought them in, went and got myself a cup of water. Started Rosie. And I was washing dishes and I smelled a smell.

Sharon: Oh no.

Nicole:
And I went and looked and Rosie had found a little pile from one of my dogs.

Sharon:
She was not.

Nicole:
On the carpet. The one carpet, the one area rug in my whole downstairs.

Sharon:
And that’s what they chose.

Nicole:

And she rubbed over it and rubbed over it and smeared the dog poo all over the carpet. All up my hallway,

Sharon: Nicole honey.

Nicole:

embedded in the vacuum. And I was so upset and angry and I was crying. ’cause it’s such a horrible, disgusting mess to clean up. And about five minutes into just being miserable, miserable, Sharon,

Sharon:
I would’ve been too honey.

Nicole:

As I’m peeling things apart and disinfecting, I was like, you know what, there are bigger things to worry about. This is not as bad as it seems, Nicole. God still loves me. And it, I felt better inside, even with my hands covered in dog poo and bleach galore. But it just made me kind of chuckled today. Not yesterday, but yes, the stuff is still gonna happen. It’s the dog poo will still happen.

Sharon:
It will. It will.

Nicole:
But I can choose to really be miserable in my flesh. And it didn’t feel very good.

Sharon: Nooo.

Nicole:
And then when I changed my attitude and looked to him, the vacuum did not magically get cleaned.

Sharon: No.

Nicole:
But I was a little less miserable.

Sharon:
Yes, exactly. Yes. And that’s when we’re like, yes, but heaven.

Nicole:
But heaven.

Sharon:
It’ll be good in heaven.

Nicole:
In heaven my robot vacuum will not run over dog poop in my mansion God has built for me.

Sharon:

Exactly. Oh my goodness. Oh man. Well, let us just take a moment and thank God. Oh, my. Lord, thank you. Thank you so much for your gift of eternal life. That is the good news, the gospel. We are so grateful that you thought us worth saving ’cause we’re not. And yet you loved us that much. Father, help us too, in the hard moments of life to remember that there’s a forever loved ending for those of us that have come to you, and you want all of us to come to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole:

Amen. Only God knows when each of us will die. It’s why it’s so important not to wait to choose to come to Christ and ask for forgiveness, for sin and surrender ourselves to him. Paul often urged the people he met not to wait but to come to the Lord Jesus. In two Corinthians six, one through two, Paul says, “As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, at just the right time, I heard you on the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, the right time is now. Today is the day of salvation.” If you have never humbled yourself and asked God to forgive you and save you, today is the day. Call out to him and he will answer you. Our God loves it when we turn to him, He is merciful and loving and ready to forgive and welcome you. If you want to learn more, would you write us at sweetselah.org/podcast. We’d love to chat with you and pray for you. We want you to have the sure hope of heaven too. Next week, we’ll continue talking about heaven and that time still to come when Jesus returns to call his own children to himself. Join us for episode 119, “Children of Light.” Until then, may God bless you and draw you ever nearer to him.

Speaker 1:

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found at sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.

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