The Weekly Focal Point with Mike Fabarez, Bible Devotional

Get guidance on Bible study from C.S. Lewis - Free Course!
<< The Weekly Focal Point

The Weekly Focal Point - June 9, 2016

Funerals

It is remarkable that non-Christians, agnostics and staunch secularists turn into weeping and hope-filled theologians at their loved ones’ funerals. People that rarely give God a thought or ten minutes of contemplation take up the microphone and tearfully recite their poems about the fishing, feasting and frolicking in “heaven”. They speak confidently of their departed friend living at peace and in comfort - enjoying “a better place” forevermore. They reference the eternal gifts of God but hurry to leave the ceremonies and gravesites to live, as the deceased once did, in open defiance of God. They continue to mock God’s truth, malign Christ’s followers and disdain all the truths that their Creator has inscribed in his word.  All, that is, except the biblical references that speak of eternal pleasures and heaven’s rest. Their glaring hypocrisy goes undetected. People gleefully claim the benefits of the One they openly despise. In the first century Paul said that the difference between Christian and non-Christian funerals was that the former was tempered with hope and the latter was not (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Today, with our culture’s resolve to defy facts with feelings, to replace logic with wishing, and to selfishly claim all available benefits whether provision has been made for them or not, it should be no surprise that non-Christian funerals brim with overweening hope. Though it is a false hope, one that tragically insulates the ceremony’s participants from any urgency to make peace with their Maker. When in the end that is all that matters. The gravity of death ought to lead the living to humbly reach out to God in repentance. For to have any real hope of the blessings of heaven we must be made right with its King through a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ.

- Pastor Mike

           JUNE GIFT

Mayoffer

Our gift to you with your generous donation.

Step back a moment, focus your eyes of faith, and then come with Joni into a world you’ve heard about from your youth but have never seen: heaven. You just might discover that heaven is closer--and more real--than you’ve ever thought. 

In this joyful best-seller, Joni Eareckson Tada paints a shining portrait of our heart’s true home. Joni talks about what heaven will be like, what we’ll do, and whom we’ll see. She shows how heaven will be the satisfaction of all that our hearts cry for, something more real than anything this side of eternity. 

And Joni tells how we can prepare now for the reality of heaven. With hope for today and vision for those who struggle in life, Heaven invites us to a refreshing and faith-filled picture of our glorious destination. Once you’ve caught a glimpse of heaven, you’ll see earth in a whole new light.

Request your copy today!

Click Here to visit Focal Point Ministries' website



More The Weekly Focal Point Articles