Hope for Life Blog

The question is always blunt, direct, personal, and demanding. Once asked, it must be answered. The challenge, once made, requires a response validating your position. The question is not politically correct and the answer offers no public relations subtleties.

“How do you know?” How do you know God is real? How do you know there is a heaven or hell? And maybe the most important question of all, how do you know you’re going to heaven?

To answer those How do you know? questions, scripture says: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.” I Peter 3:15-16

This is one of those interesting human dilemmas that we feel trapped by. When we try to explain how we know, there is a fear that others will interrogate us as to why we made such a dreadfully poor decision. Yet look at the words. It says we are to give a reason for our faith. It’s not a debate to prove whose reasons are best; it’s not a dictate that everyone believes exactly the same on every subject; and it’s not collective wisdom. It’s why you, personally and individually, believe. How did you come to those conclusions?

When we stand before God Almighty at the final judgment, it will only be you and Jesus who have to answer for you. The opinions, beliefs and choices of others will not be admissible.

So, how DO YOU know? Tell me what you know and more importantly, how you know it……..

“Must, must, must – all of us get in our minds that this world is not our home, and that life, at best, is transitory.”

The email from a friend of forty years was prompted by his just finding out that another long time friend was diagnosed with cancer and the future was clouded at best. Things change when we realize our time is short. Oh, I know we cavalierly say that we’re all terminal, it’s just a matter of when we die not if. Yet, bravado usually is short lived when the real end is near.

As believers in an Almighty God we mentally, sometimes verbally, and even on rare occasions orally acknowledge the faith we confidently hope to see His face in heaven as promised in Revelation 22:4.

Yet we live our lives as if our earthly existence is the only place we’ll ever live. We are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. As followers of the Messiah, we are to be different, with our focus on heaven. Not on a car, a job, or a house in the “good” neighborhood.

I am reminded of the words Albert Brumley penned in 1937:

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

The images of being pilgrims, strangers, wanderers in this world are in both the Old and New Testaments. That the journey is not complete until we are with Jehovah Raffa as described in Revelation 21. So what about the here and now? How do we exist on this side of Heaven? The words of Jesus reverberate through the centuries: “I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” John 17: 14-15.

It seems most opportune that as a new year begins, we must recalibrate our perspectives and live as if we truly believe that “life, at best, is transitory” and being with God is where we want to live.

So how do we recalibrate? How do you prepare to be a pilgrim in a land that is not your home? What does that really mean? Yeah I got the questions, it’s the answers that keep me searching. Let me know what you think.

“I know a little boy who is dying today”, those words written by a Hospice chaplain in Northwest Arkansas got my attention.

It was unusual to have one so young in Hospice care and yet again not as rare as we might like to think. He was four years old and had never had a pain-free day. For one whose existence was short-changed, he knew the important things of life. When he had heard them repeating the Lord’s Prayer, instead of saying “Amen” at the end, he lifted his little hands above his head and shouted “YAY”.

It was a July Tuesday when he died. The chaplain described it this way, “This four year old knows real life now. He was lovingly taken to a waiting angel by his parents and brother!

“For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. YAY!”

YAY indeed!
So tell me why you might find this true story interesting or challenging?

by Bill Brant
It doesn’t say if he ran or how far he went or whether he was out of breath when he got there. It does say “the first thing he did” was find his brother. There was an immediate sense of urgency in what he needed to do.

That story is tucked away in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. Verses 41 and 42 state: “The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.”

The procedure is relatively simple: Find something eternally important, tell someone about it right away, then take them to it. That’s what Andrew did. Each of us can be a part of the Andrew Factor. Telling about Jesus and then bringing the one to whom you are talking to Jesus.

Most of the time Christians are good about proclaiming Jesus. We just have trouble with the bringing part. We are afraid of offending or rejection, abhor being uncomfortable. Imagine what wouldn’t have happened if Andrew hadn’t brought Simon Peter to Jesus.

The Andrew factor tells about Jesus, asks for the commitment, then takes people to Jesus.

Who was your Andrew?
What would have happened to you if no one told you about Jesus?
Do you have the Andrew Factor?

Maybe it’s a symptom of age. Maybe the experiences of accumulated years have magnified sensitivity. Maybe as the forces of nature rub and buffet, erosion of will and determination has taken its toll.

Regardless of how or why, I find myself much more aware of what it means. I understand the incredible super-human effort it must have taken to stay there. I contemplate the morbidity of enduring until death for the cause. What I cannot understand is why was it done for me? Why, before the world was created, did God Almighty formulate a plan where His Son would die and by doing so, make me worthy to live with the Father forever?

I don’t comprehend, but I thankfully accept and it’s personal:

[quote]“For God so loved Bill Brant that He gave His only begotten Son,
so that Bill would believe on Him and have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 personalized)[/quote]

With that too, comes realization. It ambushes me at unsuspected moments like when at my fellowship the lyrics from a song float through the auditorium:

[quote]Behold the man upon the cross
My guilt upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

………………[/quote]

I can’t explain the tears. I’m old school and old schoolers don’t cry. But it’s personal now.

People talk theology. Jesus lived His life and then gave it up to each of us. He didn’t talk. He did. He died so you could be with Him and God forever. It’s personal for Him and for you.

What is holding you back from accepting this gift? Do you think you’ve done too many bad things that you can’t be forgiven of? Too much, too often, in too deep? Talk with me:

[r]Bill Brant[/r]

Promotion Sunday is an annual tradition in most of our congregations, usually taking place in the fall but occasionally at another time of the year. Somewhere around middle school you don’t get promoted anymore, you just go to your age appropriate Sunday morning Bible class.

At the Southern Hills church of Christ I have the honor to teach the Primetimers class, those 65 and older. There is an often repeated joke that “when you get promoted out of Brant’s class, you go to heaven”. I laughed because it’s funny and lately for a number of our class members it’s become true.

With the recent passing of a dear sweet member of our class, I began to think what her “promotion to heaven” was like. I envisioned her being met by her husband of 62 years and an embrace that had waited four years. Then hand in hand they began to walk down those transparent streets of gold as he introduced her to friends, for by now he knew everyone. He showed her all of the glories of the City Four Square, because by now he knew where everything was.

And then he took her the throne room where the awe in awesome was impossible to describe what she saw, felt and heard. There in the center was the great God Almighty and Jesus, her Savior, at His right. As she was drawn closer the promise of Revelation 22:4 was hers, for she saw His face. In a whisper that reverberated throughout heaven, He said, “My child, welcome home.”

Someday we all hope to get promoted to heaven where we will see His face and hear the Hosanna of Joy and Welcome.
I don’t know about you, but there have been times when I’ve doubted that I was worthy of being promoted, heaven was too fine a place for me. You ever feel that way?

I know that Jesus died for sins, but I always thought it was for someone else’s wrongs, because I screwed up so much, how could He want me? Been there? Done That?

Bill Brant

Have you ever wondered how he can stand it? Isn’t there some point when He says “Enough is enough”? Don’t you think He must retch when we curse Him, use His name to curse others, justify killing men, women, children, because He is “on our side”?

When does He draw the line and say “The horrid things you do to yourselves and the planet you live on is more than I can stomach. Go to Ghennal!” Ghenna is used only twelve times in the New Testament, 11 by Jesus Himself as He talks about the place separated from God. The place that Revelation calls “the second death..” The place where there is eternal damnation and suffering.

The question remains, after consistent disappointment and disregard for His love, when does the Creator tell his creation to Go To Hell?

He Didn’t.

He Doesn’t.

Since before the world was formed, God hasn’t given up on his children. He offers them, you by name, a way to live with Him forever.

God Almighty offers you that hope:
Unearned, undeserved, unexplainable

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God allowed His son to pay the debt of our sins that we were/are incapable of satisfying. And Jesus gives us the receipt that simply says redeemed.

And yet do you think God’s told you to go to hell? One of the nagging questions that we as his creations have is: How, after all that I’ve done, can He forgive me? So what do you think?

~Bill Brant

“Over the river and through the woods to ‘Aunt Patty’s’ house we go.” Well, that’s how it would be sung at my house. For 38 years they ALL have come to Aunt Patty’s house for Thanksgiving, not Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill’s house, just Aunt Patty’s house.

There have always been three generations who gather, including in-laws and out-laws. I’m not sure some of the attendees would know how to cook turkey, prepare stuffing or get enough ice unless my wife, the aforementioned Aunt Patty, didn’t do it.

Thanksgiving dinner takes place around 1 pm with the adult table and the kid’s table. Then the late afternoon has football games or my nap. Leftovers are available from 6 pm to bedtime with the evening centered around some games that most of the family participates in while coordinating the strategy for who is to be at which store before the sun rises and the world starts to turn the next morning.

Each year the faces change, depending on whose family gets the kids for the holiday this year, but even for an old codger like me, what I enjoy most is simply having my family close enough to hear their laughter, see their smile, feel their warmth.

I envision heaven being something like Thanksgiving at Aunt Patty’s house.

All of the “relatives” gathering in one place, telling stories of the way things used to be, new faces each year, hearing the laughter, seeing the smiles, feeling the warmth. ALL of us in the presence of God- Almighty, His Son- Emanuel, His Spirit- the Comforter. But no one goes home, Thanksgiving never stops.

Yep, just like at Aunt Patty’s house, because they’ll all be back for Christmas!

Who will be at your Thanksgiving dinner this year or what is keeping you from having that dinner? If you get to heaven, for some don’t think they will get there, who would be at your gathering there?

~Bill Brant

It’s called [i]The Bucket List[/i], a movie about two men who endured treatment for cancer only to be told they had months to live. Together they compile a list of things they want to do before they “kick the bucket”. Thus begins a hilarious and poignant journey to discover what is important when life is short.

There is a real life equivalent. On September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University, a computer professor delivered a lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” a hopeful and ironic marquee, considering that cancer was already devouring his pancreas.

Two presentations: one imagined, one all too real, for Randy Pauch died from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008, 10 months after his “Last Lecture.” Both stories reflect the sense of urgency as time is running out and the need to cut all extraneous things of life to focus on what is really important.

These same motivations are seen and felt in The Last Letter. Written by an old man on death row, written in a dark, dank, cell. Written knowing he will not escape the executioner by a last minute reprieve or by a technicality. Written knowing that his end is quickly approaching.

He writes with the urgency of a condemned man and tells his only relative, his adopted son, the most important things to remember. This is what he wrote:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

The prisoner is the Apostle Paul. The adopted son is Timothy and the Last Letter is the New Testament book of II Timothy, written shortly before Paul’s execution around 67 AD.

Today, now, as our world continues to spiral from disaster to warfare, to inhumanity, we must also proclaim the Urgently Important: that our Savior, Jesus Christ, has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.

If you had the chance to write your Last Letter, who would you address it to? What would you tell them?

~Bill Brant

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to state deliberately and unequivocally the basis for one’s belief, a person, an organization, a nation, or people must make a Declaration. Thus, all people know exactly where we stand in relation to all others. In doing so, it must be acknowledges and accepted that some will offer affirmation and others will find fault that cause them offense.

American history is anchored with such an event that took place on July 4, 1776.

Today I make my personal Declaration of Dependence.

I believe in one God, His son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. Who since before time began, offered His creation an avenue to be made worthy to be with Him forever.

I believe that God is creator and we are His creations; that Jesus is Messiah, our Savior; and our dependence is completely upon them.

I believe that it is God’s task to add to His church and determine who goes to Heaven or Hell, not mine.

I believe that God’s directions are in His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I Believe that being Christ-like begins with understanding that by ourselves we are unworthy; that repenting of our sin is both attitude and action; that baptism is the acknowledgement of obedience to Jehovah and telling others of Jesus is an opportunity and responsibility.

This Declaration of Dependence is the continuation of my journey and not the end.

Most of us are hesitant to make a public statement of faith, but isn’t about time that some of us do? What would you include in your Declaration of Dependence? Why?

-Bill Brant