LOOKING FORWARD

 

I used a scripture in my post yesterday that said, “…..I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”  (John 10:10). Brilliant, isn’t it??? What comes at the beginning of that scripture though is more indicative of this life than any other scripture I know of. It begins like this: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy….” 

The Saviour was, of course, speaking of the adversary and the opposing forces he brings into this life to derail us from the abundance that we can have through following Him. Christ’s adversary is here to steal our spiritual identity, kill our faith in God, and destroy our commitment to Christ, the source of our salvation. His value system is: 1. Selfishness; 2. Self-indulgence; 3. Immediate gratification. Does this not describe so well this mortal life?

The adversary’s value system is his greatest lie. Everything that pleases and gratifies in this life is something he promotes as abundance. In reality, our mortal life is abundant when through faith in God, we have peace in our hearts and love of our families. But there is more. Real abundance comes when we leave this temporary plane of opposition, having conquered all, and return to God.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen has said it well: “Mortality is not mere estrangement from God – it is the crucible through which the possibility of truly meaningful life becomes real” (“Broken Heart” p 39). What meaningful life? Eternal life, that is yet to come.

Nephi tell us that “Adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy.” (2 Nephi 2:25). I have often wondered how Adam and Eve felt when they left the Garden and found themselves in ‘hell’, so to speak. Adam lived 930 years according to Genesis 5:5 and Moses 6:12. Imagine living for that long in this life. I am certain he could endure it because he came to understand what was yet to come.

“Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden so that ‘they might have joy’. Not nice days. Not yawning and stretching and lounging in front of a cozy television set throughout eternity. AFTER Adam and Eve had been in the lone and dreary world long enough to get some idea of what it meant to ‘eat bread by the sweat of thy face’ and to ‘bring forth children in sorrow’ an angel taught them the plan of salvation.” (Bruce C. Hafen, “Broken Heart” p 75)

It was after they sampled the crucible of this life that they learnt of ‘the joy of redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient’ (Moses 5:11). Imagine experiencing the ease and beauty and peace of the Gaden of Eden, then the barren harshness of this life that only the prince of this world can offer and finally to be given hope that they can return to the bliss of God’s presence, the state of lasting joy and happiness. Imagine the relief and the driving force to endure and to overcome, and to be, in the end, found worthy!

Someone wise once said that Eden was a way-station, not a destination….so it is with this life. The Saviour did not die so that we will have an inferior destination. He died to gather us, to restore us, to give us joy everlasting. Let us not be deceived by the counterfeits of this life but let us ‘look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross….”  (Hebrews 12:2)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: No Greater Joy by Chris Brazelton)