posted August 24, 2008
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Frank Calhoun, a medical doctor who has a doctor of ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary, believes that a person’s spiritual, emotional and mental health affect the quality of his or her physical health. He is the founder of Grace Clinic in Soddy-Daisy. The following is the eighth in a series of lectures by him that will be posted weekly in Church News at Chattanoogan.com.)
To become fearful or depressed about the death of your body is an INSULT to the One who created it. God’s Word says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the DEATH of His saints” (believers) (Ps. 116:15).
Because your death will be PRECIOUS in God’s sight, it should be precious in your mind. It is precious because He loves you and you are coming HOME to HIM. Do you love Him so much that you are WANTING to go? If you are not looking forward to finally being in the very presence of the One who loves you more than any other, then you are the loser; and this LOSS of yours is a reflection of how POOR your spiritual life really is! You have no rapport with your Father and will die a miserable death. This death is a negative testimony to unbelievers and a victory for Satan in the Angelic Conflict.
How tightly you hold on to the things of this world, including your family and your body, is a measure of how poorly you have advanced in your spiritual life as well as how insecure
your happiness is. As a believer you must not ignore your future. Realize that your home is not here. Your home and your family are with your FATHER.
Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms,…I am going there to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:1-2). THIS IS HOME.
Paul wrote, “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed (physical death), we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor. 5:1). THIS IS HOME.
God wants you to be in His presence – at the right time. Perhaps He is allowing you to stay here to mature enough until you want the same thing. This is the ONLY mental attitude that can replace FEAR of transition (death) and enable you to ENJOY it; that is, the DESIRE to be
with Him.
You should think of this life as the staging area or period and place of preparation – prep school – for an eternity of life in God’s presence. One must prepare, learn, and develop to be ready for the conditions and qualities of life that exist in our home with Him.
To live without this AWARENESS (of the purpose of life) is like living the life of a mentally impaired person. You observe that person and you see immediately that he is not possibly fully AWARE of all that life is.
There is NO mental development and NO sense of the future. But alas! One can have a totally normal IQ and still SETTLE for the shallow and shortsighted aspects of ONLY the human social-physical existence.
There is much more for the one who chooses to believe in God, believe God’s Word and is PREPARING for the ULTIMATE EXISTENCE.
The TRANSITION of the believer doesn’t necessarily mean he is prepared for it. MANY choose not to prepare. Many CHOOSE to settle for the loser/lesser life. They are afraid of death AND afraid of life.
The two are a tandem.
It is your Father’s decision WHEN you will have the great transition.
It is NOT your decision.
IF you mentally rebel against His decision with
demanding some miracle, or withdrawing into fear or depression, then you are OUT OF LINE.
You need to confess this mental attitude. You
do not belong to yourself, you BELONG to the One who died as a SUBSTITUTE FOR YOU!
“If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live of die, we BELONG to the Lord” (Rom. 14:8).
“You are not your own; you were brought at a price. Therefore, HONOR God with your BODY” (1 Cor. 6:19b-20).
At transition you honor God with your body by letting go of it,
without fear, without looking back, but looking FORWARD to Him Who is waiting for you.
Your Father loves you so very, VERY much. “This is how God showed His LOVE among us: He sent His one and
only Son into the world that we might LIVE through HIM. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He LOVED US and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 Jn. :9-10).
The believer who has a personal sense of destiny has a LOVE for his future…one which is beyond anything you are capable of knowing here (1 Cor. 2:9). Getting rid of this body is your ticket, your release, your emancipation from slavery and bondage to a life full of limitations … to an unlimited heavenly life with God.
Frank B. Calhoun, M.D., D.Min
P. O. Box 24148
Chattanooga, TN 37422
1-877-832-4988 (Toll Free)
GraceclinicFBC@aol.com
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