Infinite Dividends

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Today I was struck by the immensity of eternity and my place within it because of Christ's gift of salvation (my "inheritance"). In a world that is obsessed with investing, or maybe more accurately obsessed with receiving dividends from investments, I have been given the only lasting investment with the ultimate payoff. It is unaffected by age, war, rust, depreciation, disease, weather, disaster, exposure, or financial crisis. It can never be outdated or outmoded by new technology. I have been promised eternity free from pain, death, disease, violence, heartache, depression and poverty. And the best thing is that I don't merely cease existing and therefore cease experiencing these negative things. The end of this life for me is a promised beginning--not an unavoidable termination. I have guaranteed life--and life beyond anything I could ever imagine alongside the infinitely mind-blowing Creator of all matter, space, and time!

It cannot be lost unless I willingly turn my back on it. It cannot be stolen. I have living hope residing within me, not merely a semi-comforting hope of it all ending one day. This is what sustains me. This is what energizes me. And let me be the first to tell you that I hate emotionalism. I don't buy into hype. I actively seek to find holes and weaknesses within any concept I come across. I am a rational and (if I may say so) intelligent person -- ask anyone who knows me. I say that not to pump myself up, but to reinforce the idea of the solid faith I have in my Savior. If it had weaknesses and flaws that other worldviews could better explain I would turn my back on it. But it has not and will not be destroyed by anything this world can throw at it. I have experienced personal pain and frustration that would shake this apart if it were only a frail crutch to lean on. That is why I can confidently say along with the Apostle Paul:

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)