OUR HOPE BEYOND THIS LIFE Monday – July 18, 2010

OUR HOPE BEYOND THIS LIFE Monday – July 18, 2010

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:13

In November 2009, Bob Wattles, a longtime Orange County, Florida circuit judge, was dying of cancer. Bob had grown up in a Christian home, but had never asked the Lord into his life.
Bob’s wife Patricia asked Pastor Randall James to come over to their home and speak with Bob. Bob had resisted the gospel for 62 years, but seemed open to speak to his friend Randall as he faced his own mortality.
"During our very first conversation, I posed the question, 'Do you know for sure that if you died tonight you would be in heaven?' " Randall remembered. "The answer was something to the effect of, 'I hope so.'"
Pastor Randall then told Bob he could have the assurance of salvation. "I said to the judge, 'Because accepting Christ is so simple, what do you have to lose, brother?' I then prayed the prayer of salvation and asked him if he had accepted Jesus into his heart and he said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Welcome to the Kingdom of Christ.'"
That was the last coherent conversation Bob had and he died eight weeks later.
At Bob’s memorial service, Pastor Randall said: "We are all just visitors and aliens on this earth, If we want to have eternal life with God the Father, we must turn from our sins and confess our faith in Jesus Christ. This is how we can be sure that we will spend eternity in heaven. I know that this is where Bob is right now and that he wants everyone in this room to be where he is now.
In fact, Bob is more alive now than ever."

In Christ, we have a hope of heaven that is an assurance, not merely a wish. Today in prayer, praise Christ that when we place our trust in Him, we receive eternal life.

“Do not look to your hope, but to Christ, the source of your hope.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

God’s Word: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” – Romans 15:4