Reading

First off I would like to apologize for not having posted anything for a while. The reason for this is my computer has not had working Internet for almost a week now and today they finally took it to get it fixed and gave me a stand in. But I do have a post that I am very excited about sharing, finally! I have been reading a book by Ted Dekker called The Bride Collector and came across a line that stopped me in my tracks and has been on my mind for the last week.
"Have you ever wondered why most people who say they believe in God and heaven don't actually want to leave this life to be with him? Not until life has slapped them around enough for them to beg for it."
I am so guilty of this. We as humans fear death, yet as Christians we should not fear death because like they say in Hook, "To die would be a great adventure." As a Christian we know what awaits after death yet like Quinton says in the quote we "don't actually want to leave this life to be with Him (God)" God tells us in the Bible to be in the world not of it, but so many of us believe we can do both. That we can still have all the best stuff like IPhones and Escalades and still not be in the world. That we can pursue a life of money and still be removed from the world. The story that is lingering in my mind is the Rich man who comes to Christ and wants to know how to get into heaven and when Christ tells him to give everything he has away he leaves instead. Christ then tells his disciples that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24) Even the poorest people in America are still rich. So think about that story. We are the Rich man, we claim to have obeyed God's commands and to be following after him but when he asks us to make a sacrifice of our time, or our money, we act like the rich people we are, and we run away. We have grown attached to what the world has to offer and no longer completely desire to be with the God, who continues to romances us, but instead we have begun to lust after the worldly possessions. This is why we fear death. We are afraid of losing what we have worked so hard to obtain here in the world. Instead we should be building up treasures in heaven, seeking after the will of God. We should be in the world not of it. We need to stop letting our "Rich man" mentality keep us from the visions and plans God has for us. to do this we need to allow God to break the chains of the world that have begun to enslave us. We need to stop trying to live the American dream and start trying to live the heavenly dream. We need to fix our eyes on things about and allow God to lead our footsteps on the path he has laid before us. Maybe then we will not fear death but we will rejoice at the coming time when we will finally leave this place and be joined with our Father in Heaven.