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A WORD FROM THE PASTOR
Room For All
A man arrived at the gates of heaven. St. Peter asked, "Denomination?" The man said, "Methodist." St. Peter looked down at his list, and said, "Go to room 24, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." Another man arrived at the gates of heaven. "Denomination?" "Lutheran." "Go to room 18, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." A third man arrived at the gates. "Denomination?" "Presbyterian." "Go to room 11, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." The man said, "I can understand there being different rooms for different denominations, but why must I be quiet when I pass room 8?" St. Peter told him, "Well, the Baptists are in room 8, and they think they're the only ones here."
Jesus told us about heaven in figurative language such as, "In my Father's house are many rooms." This mean you must believe in the Risen Christ, keep his word and receive his bread of life, then you would inherit a place in heaven. How do we convince the none-religion people that heaven is for them too? The best way to do it is through the presence of heaven within us. When Jesus said, "I will come again and take you to myself, he was referring to his presence in the believer by the power of his Spirit..
If heaven is where Jesus is, then Christians can give to the world a strong witness to the existence of heaven by living their lives united to the Spirit of Christ here on earth. It is necessary for us to experience heaven here and now, through our life of union with Christ. Besides, if we do not get acquainted with heaven now, we won't be spending our earthly life as a journey to heaven.
But there is a question. If we claim that we have been baptized in Christ and hence God dwells in us through the power of his Spirit, how do we witness to it in our secular life? Is our actual life such that the Lord's command, "I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles" (Acts 13:47), become our claim? If the Christians do not manifest any extraordinary quality of life, then we are just ordinary people making an extraordinary claim. This criticism is hard to meet because there is truth in it.
In the Service of the Lord,
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