Facebook vs. Face to Face with Jesus

            If you could have a photograph of one moment in history, what would it be? Would you pick an event in the Bible… like the parting of the Red Sea or the birth of Christ or the crucifixion of Jesus or even the resurrection? Or maybe you would choose a post-biblical moment, such as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the door of All Saints Church at Wittenberg or the Pilgrims setting foot on new world soil or the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There are so many possibilities.

            More than ever, we are filling our lives up with photos. We are making up for centuries when there were none taken because the technology did not exist. Today our photos are mostly digital, and millions of them exist on computers, databases, and phones all over the world. We flood Facebook with them, documenting our lives and sharing images on a daily basis. We send them through emails and text messages. Apple advertises the iPhone as the device with which more photos are taken than any other. We surround ourselves with them in our homes and workplaces. My office is full of pictures of my kids when they were younger.

            Now and then when I look at my photo files on my computer, I wonder what will happen to them. Perhaps the files will somehow get to my kids. Maybe I’ll get around to storing them on some external database in the online digital world. But even if my kids use them, their kids will use them less, and their kids even less. Sooner or later all the photos of what was important to me will get “lost” in the uncounted trillions of bits and bytes that make up the digital universe. Many of these photos capture special moments and I like being able to view them at a click of a mouse. They capture memories. I like it when friends and family share their photos.

            But if I had to trade them all in for a face-to-face moment with Jesus, it would be no contest. And some day I actually will. The One whom I have never seen will one day return… or I will go to be with Him. And it will be glorious beyond description. And I look forward to not needing or wanting a camera in heaven to “capture” moments, because the moments will only be getting better. Why try to save a picture of something to look fondly back at… when what is ahead just keeps getting better, fuller, richer, and more wonderful? Each future moment will “top” the last. And I won’t have time to look back. It will be too glorious ahead. So, we enjoy our photos for the time being, but we don’t let them keep us from looking ahead to what will be so much greater. To belong to Jesus here is to be one who is ever looking forward joyfully to being with Him. Maranatha!

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV) ⁹  However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--

Philippians 3:20 (NIV) ²⁰  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

1 John 3:2 (NIV) ²  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.

PRAYER: “Father, there are so many blessings from You in this life. Thank You for each and every one of them. But compared to the thought of being with You for eternity, they pale in consideration. What a day that will be when we see Jesus. Give me a hungry desire for being with You that starts now, when I can’t see You. , so that my joy will be made complete when I do see You.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott