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Training Today for a Glorious Tomorrow
by Tom Goodman
February 10, 2016

This life is a training center to get you ready for a glorious future.

That perspective shows up all through the Bible.  For example, when Paul urged the Corinthian believers to settle disputes amongst themselves instead of taking their cases to secular courts, he said, "Do you not know that we will judge angels?  How much more the things of this life!" (1 Corinthians 6:3).

There is a stunning future ahead for those who belong to Jesus.  Heaven is a place for rest and reward from our labors, but there will be work to do, too.  We'll govern angels!

By the way, note that Paul says we'll govern angels, not become angels.  Perhaps one of the most common phrases you hear when a loved one dies is, "She's become one of God's angels now."  The phrase is intended as a compliment, but it really diminishes the grandeur and glory of blood-bought humanity.  Angels can only look longingly into the wonder of a gospel meant for us (1 Peter 1:12).  They are "ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14).  If a believer were to become one of God's angels at death, it would be a demotion!

No, we are destined for a stunning future where faithful earthly servants become rulers of cities (Luke 19:11-26), princes on thrones (Revelation 3:21), rescuers of a ruined world (Malachi 4:3), and, yes, governors of angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).  Maybe one reason we don't long for heaven as much as the biblical writers did is because our modern understanding of heaven has become so thin and colorless.

This isn't some pie-in-the-sky mental escape from the hardships of life.  Instead, you need to adjust your perspective on present-day life on this basis of your glorious future!  If faithful service is rewarded, then serve faithfully now.  If treasure stored in eternal causes never fades away, then give to Heaven's causes now (Matthew 6:19-21).  If our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory, then joyfully endure your troubles now (2 Corinthians 4:17).  And, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:3, if you're destined to govern angels in the future, you're authorized to settle comparatively trivial disputes between believers now.

Let what's true about your future change how you handle your present!  We'll examine this in more detail on Sunday.  Read ahead in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 and join us online or onsite at 10am!

--Tom


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