WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

by Jim Corner

Do you think the title sounds rather mercenary? Travel with me to the 19th chapter of the book of Matthew and listen to the apostle Peter make the following statement in verse 27: "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" If you had been in that room with Peter would you have braced yourself for the rebuke that Jesus would give? Can you hear the Lord saying, "shame on you Peter for having such selfish thoughts." Well, that is not what Jesus said. Rather He told Peter that many blessings in both this life and in the life to come would be the possession of not only Peter but for all who followed Him.

Why should anyone follow Jesus? What will I receive if I surrender my life to Him? Space will allow us to look at only two blessings out of many that are received by the one who gives their life to our Lord.

1. Joy. Now, don't confuse joy with happiness. When you turn to the 16th chapter of the book of Acts you see that Paul and Silas have been arrested, severely beaten and placed in solitary confinement with their hands and feet in chains. What was their crime? There was a young girl who had the ability to predict the future and she was owned by several men. They earned money by charging people for the young girl to make the predictions. The spirit by which she was able to do this was an evil spirit so Paul cast the demon out of the girl. When the men saw that their means of income had been removed, they instigated the proceedings against Paul and Silas.

Think about this for just a minute: Paul and Silas have been faithfully serving the Lord and yet they are now suffering for doing good. What would you do if you were in such a situation? In verse 16 we read that Paul and Silas were singing and praying. How could they do that? Simply because Christian joy is not based on outward circumstances but rather on the realization that no one can remove our relationship with Jesus. I want you to listen to one of the most glorious passages of Scripture in all of God's Word. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38,39. The faithful child of God has a joy that can never be taken away.

2. Eternal Life. My father died recently and he was nearly 91 years old. When we think of a man of that age we refer to them as being 'an old man'. When you look at time from man's perspective then you can accurately say that 91 is old but how do you compare 91 years with eternity? There is no way that I can paint an accurate picture of eternity but let me try. Imagine that you have a gigantic water bucket. When I say gigantic I am not joking because this particular bucket will hold all of the water in the entire world. Here is your assignment: empty all of the water from the world into the bucket. All of the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Amazon River, the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and every other body of water. Here is the procedure that you will follow: you will take an 'eye dropper' and go down to any body of water and take one drop and place it in your bucket. You will then lay your eye dropper down for one year and repeat the procedure each year until every drop of water has been transferred from the earth to your bucket. Now, how long would that take? I don't have any idea but I know this, when you finished, eternity would be no closer to being over than when you began. In reality you cannot talk about the length of eternity because it has no end.

I have good news for you, no, make that GREAT news! You can spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus. He said in John 14: 1-3: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." One day the faithful child of God will spend forever with the Lord!

So, what's in it for you? Joy in this life and eternity in the next life. World Bible School is a tool that you can use to learn the Word of God and discover how to become His child. It is our prayer that the Lord will richly bless you in a study of His Word! If you would like to study the Bible by mail, go to Bible Courses and then click on World Bible School. It will be the best click you have ever made.

©2001 Buckingham Road Church of Christ