Given all explanations given thus far regarding the life union with Christ, you do have a choice to make. The 70/80 years spent on this side of the great divide (between this present world and Heaven) is too short compared to eternity we are called to in Christ, who also made a way for us to be there.

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory… But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:1,2,8-11 (NLT)

This gift of life by Christ demands that this side of the divide must not distract or consume us to the extent that we spare little thought for Heaven. Colossians 3:2 (NLT) says, Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

Our halts, limps and mixed scorecard here, even amongst the colony of Heaven here, will give way to the full manifestation of the sons of God.

And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:17-23 (NLT)

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Philippians 3:20-21 (NLT)

This is the why of the choice you and I must make, the glorious liberty of the sons of God, citizenship of heaven in a glorious body or this afflicted life in a crappy world? Which way, dearly beloved? Selah.



Pastor Afolabi Oladele