Your name appears many places.
It first was written on your birth certificate and the wristband you wore in the
hospital after you were born.
The government has archives on
you, beginning with your Social Security number. The driver’s license bureau
keeps records under your name. Your name appears on loans, titles, and deeds.
Your name may be in the news
if you receive awards or do notable things. Your name will be listed with
marriage licenses and your engagement and wedding announcements may be in the
newspaper—but hopefully it won’t be in the divorce column. If you are in a serious accident or arrested
after age eighteen, your name might be in the news.
If you become a screen star, a politician, an inventor, a hero,
extremely wealthy, a philanthropist, a successful businessman, a writer, or just
someone who voices an opinion in the right place, people will see your name.
Your name could become a household word.
Mostly, however, our names are spoken more than written. Sometimes your
name just runs around in people’s heads.
Unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns first or you
are lost at sea or buried in an unknown tomb, someday your name probably
will appear on a tombstone or an urn containing your ashes.
For the most part, your name reflects who you are and what you do.
Today is the day to prepare for the future.
That brings us to an important book where you
want
your name to appear.
Your success at achieving the ultimate life begins with your name in
the Book of Life, the “Who’s Who” of who is going to live forever in heaven.
How do you get in?
Different from some other Who’s Who books,
you aren’t required to pay a fee or buy that edition. An entry is free of cost
to you—but a huge amount already has been paid in blood
by Jesus Christ
for
your name to be included. That’s called redemption because we were born into
sin and the penalty for sin is eternal death.
Jesus told his disciples to rejoice that their names were written in
heaven.[1] The last book
of the Bible, Revelation, has multiple references to the “Book of Life.”[2]
Revelation chapter 20 describes the vision
the Apostle John saw of the Great White Throne Judgment: “I saw the dead, both
great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened,
including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to things
written in the books.”
In Revelation 21, we’re
given a description of heaven that “has no need of sun or moon, for the glory
of God illuminates the city. There will be no night. Nothing evil
will be allowed to enter, and the only humans who will be there are those whose
names are written in the Lamb’s (Jesus's) Book of Life.”
It all begins when we make a decision to believe, repent of
our sins and accept the redemption, the abundant life, Jesus promised.
That’s when your name is entered in the Book, and becomes
special.
--Excerpt from Ada Brownell's motivational
Bible study, Imagine the Future
You, available on Amazon. ©Ada Brownell
2014
[1] Luke 10:20
[2] Rev. 3:5; Rev. 20:12; Rev. 21:27
IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU
By Ada Brownell
This
motivational Bible study will help you discover evidence for faith; how to look
and be your best; who can help; interesting information about dating, love and
marriage; choosing a career; how to deposit good things into your brain you can
spend; and how to avoid hazards that jeopardize a successful life on earth and
for eternity, all mingled with true stories that can make you smile.
