Riches, Honor and Life

"The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah is riches and honor and life." Proverbs 22

I get a verse delivered to my phone every morning and this was today's. At first glance I imagined these rewards coming to me on earth and I think, "That's nice."

But this morning, as I measured coffee grounds and emptied the dishwasher by the dim, yellow light of the bulb under the microwave at 5:45 I listened to an audiobook on heaven.

Having a sturdy view of heaven and an eager expectation of it changes day to day life. And honestly, it's not something I think about very often.

Never ending riches. Perfect, untarnished honor. Eternal, joy-filled life-- imagine all the best you've ever seen on earth, in your own life or other's-- it's just a taste of what's to come. But life often teaches us of disappointment early on. And too often my response is, "Don't expect too much."

Getting the flu right before a big trip you've planned for months, rain and wind ruining an outdoor wedding, friends who cancel a long expected lunch date-- who themselves must be dealing with some unfortunate series of events in their day-- not getting accepted to the college you wanted, or into the choir or play, getting turned down for the job. Again. Or if you are my 6 and 8 year old sons, waiting every day for the Black Panther suits you bought with your own carefully saved money as the days get closer and closer to Halloween. And then Halloween comes and surely, you think, today it will be here! I will zip up that perfectly fitting suit and look amazing and everything will be amazing. But it never comes. And your mom has to dry your tears so she can paint your face to look like a puppy instead.

The lesson can feel like, Don't go out on a limb, don't get your hopes up, don't try for something special or important to you, it's all out of your hands anyways, and you'll just feel worse when it comes to nothing.

These are lies.

With a morsel of truth, of course, since that's how lies work.

Sin, mortality, sickness, failed 2-day shipping promises are all part of a fallen world. The things that frustrate or break us daily are not part of God's plan for how He intended this life to be. Yes, you and I both know that we live every day under His care, that nothing is out of His control and that it all comes from His hand. But. There is great comfort for me in remembering God hates these things. He hates them more than I do. They are not what He intended life to be for His children. He hates them so much He gave up everything, His own son, to free us from these things. And one day we will experience His desire for us. All bad will cease to exists. What will your life look like then?

So as we live in the hardships of today, large and small, don't let the take away be, "Well, that's life." It's not! It's not how God designed our life with Him to look like, feel like, be. And we will experience the fullness of perfection, no sorrow, or sickness, death or destruction. It will all fall away, be forgotten and what will be left is riches, honor and life. Forever.

And amazingly, He will give you a taste of it today. Soak it up. Look for it. And shout out to God that you love it. No, it's not perfect yet, but it's on it's way to being that.