FOREVER YOURS

Have you ever ended a letter with the words, "Forever Yours?"  It was probably stated to your sweetheart. And the irony about it is that you might not even know where the receiver of that billedoux is today. Or, perhaps more likely, that special one walks beside you in a loving relationship everyday. Whenever we say "Forever Yours," it is always a statement of deep emotion or passion. But being human with physical limitations of space and time, it is actually an idle promise. It is a promise we cannot actually keep. Our sweetheart dies. Our friend moves away. Our boss shuts down his business. So when then may we write or utter those words where they would be an eternal verity? The truth is... never!

When you give money to God "as you have been prospered," 1 Corinthians 16:2 (KJV)  you say to God, "It is forever yours!" But there is an anomaly there, too. In the "Sermon on the Mount", the Lord warns, "Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth. . .where thieves break through and steal. But store up for YOURSELVES treasures in heaven. . .For where your treasure is, there YOUR HEART will be also." Matthew 6:19-21(NIV). Giving to God is a "heart matter." It is  also based on an emotional response to His grace. When you give to God "for keeps," it remains forever yours, too,  in heaven's eternal bank. You cannot keep it on earth--not even in a bank. Either you will go--or it will go before you do. The enemies of our earthly treasures are moth, rust, fire, flood, decay and thieves. But time is actually the most relentless enemy of them all. It out waits you to rob you of what you have hoarded and stored. The rich farmer with the bigger barns was characterized as a "fool" by the Lord of the Universe, Luke 12:20-21. Men, however, would have dubbed him a "huge success." You can't keep treasure on earth but you can send it on ahead to a bank that is guaranteed never to fail, FDIC to the contrary notwithstanding. A wise sage once has said, "What you keep is lost--what you give is yours forever!"

 

Another forever yours relationship is becoming a child of God. In Hebrews 13:5, the author declares, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." Notice again that the place where most people put their confidence and trust is in their money, resources, and possessions! But the Lord tells us not to love or trust those things. He admonishes us to practice "contentment." That contentment is based on this secure, everlasting faithfulness of God and our faithfulness to Him. His promise is true. His word is secure. "You can take that to the bank," as they say in Texas. You can count on that. It is a forever-yours relationship. It is unique. You cannot have such a relationship with any other being in the Universe as that one. Mormons practice a bizarre, erroneous doctrine of "being sealed in an eternal marriage" with another Mormon. I was not surprised by the information emanating from the modern day polygamist  movement in Eldorado, TX with the FLDS. (I just didn't think anyone would be practicing that today). Jesus contradicts that concept of eternal marriage by indicating that there is no provision for marriage in heaven because we will be like the angels, Matthew 22:30. (Some enduring a marriage filled with acrimony might just be breathing a sigh of relief at that one). You can only keep love by giving it away. Selfish people often learn that too late. You see, we will be like angels sustaining an intimate, fully-satisfying  relationship with our blessed God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Titus 2:13; 3:4. That will be the only forever-yours relationship we would ever experience in our entire existence.  When you are in Christ and maintain your walk with Him, salvation is forever yours.   

 

The Bible is not only God's instructions to His people to live in accordance with His will for our "contentment."  It is also his love letter to us and in many places and in many ways, He signs it off to us -- Forever yours, Your Loving Heavenly Father." Let's love Him together as a church, then we too may sustain a  forever yours relationship with each other as well as with Him. It is only possible
through Jesus Christ.  Augustine once said, "Love God and do as you please." Is that a contradiction? No, because if we love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, then we would automatically do what pleases the object of our love--the God of Heaven. And now may I sign off with. . .
 

"Forever Yours,"
Al --"The Horne of Africa"

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