We have all heard it said, “You can’t take it with you!” And listening to the words of Jesus and those of James (Take the Good Work that we have done on Earth) these past couple of days, we certainly know that this is true. But here, we see what we do take with us, the good work that we have done on earth.
The Book of Revelation was written to give hope to those facing persecution and often, death. These early Christians suffered terribly, but still did the best they could to spread the Good News of the Gospel. They believed in the promise of eternal life to those who were faithful to the Lord. This promise is for us as well. Our duty as Christians is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. During his life here on earth, Jesus taught us what it meant to live a truly human life as God intended for his children. Jesus taught us to love. God is love, and we are created in God’s image and our command is to love. All of the commandments, summed up in Leviticus, as well as Jesus’ command at the Last Supper tell us to love God and others. The more we are able to love, the closer we are to life in the Kingdom.
Even Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 says that all will disappear except love. All that we do in love will follow us into the next world. This is what it means to die in the Lord. It seems that the Book of Revelation has just as much to say to us today just as it did in the early days of the church.
We can tell if we are living in the Lord by the way we are living in love, and if we live in Lord, we are more apt to die in the Lord.
Lord, Jesus Christ, you have shown us the way to the kingdom by the way you lived your life. Be with us as we try to follow in your footsteps by loving you and one another. Amen.
