Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
What is the bridge that connects people who've come from various locations around the world? People from Africa. People from Malaysia. People from North America? What or Who can unify them? Ephesians 2:11-22 gives us a big clue.
Jesus Christ saves us and His Holy Spirit seals us, giving us that guarantee of being taken to Heaven one day to be with Christ which is far better. God is with us and in us. Us, meaning those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. God has built and is ongoing in His building of bringing us all together to become a dwelling place in which God lives. This overcomes cultural and racial, or ethnic, barriers that have been in place since ancient times.
The people of the Tower of Babel wanted to be one and stay one and tried to do this without God. So the very thing they feared came upon them. God confused their language, creating multiple languages, forcing the people of the human race to scatter over the whole earth.
Now through Jesus' work on the cross and His Holy Spirit's indwelling of each believer, He's
bringing all back together again--not as a 'tossed salad' where each 'ingredient' (individual) can be seen BUT as a 'melting pot'--blended together; ONE in Christ.
God has set that ball rolling...let us overcome our prejudices between: men and women; ethnic group and ethnic group; religion and religion; and, denomination and denomination. If all truly have Jesus Christ then God's Spirit is there drawing us together. We have to work in tandem with Him.
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:1-6)
EXACTLY!! Paul's been talking about how we're one in Christ: God's drawn races (ethinic groups), genders, and opinions together so that we do not segregate into our own "type" but we must recall we (those who belong to Jesus) are all now HIS children, from ONE family---ONE in Christ. Let's not undo what God has done through Jesus and His sending of the Holy Spirit, unifying us. Make every effort! Keep the unity of the Spirit!
It is good to note here that "unity of the Spirit" doesn't mean uniformity. Individuals must use their gifts for the good of the whole and help keep the unity. This unity is given through the Spirit--we don't have to create the unity. God has already put the unity in place. Our, the believer in Christ,'s responsibility is to "keep it"; to "make every effort to keep it and that through the bond of peace".
How are we to become that homogeneous family? Verse 7 says, "each one of us has been given grace; Christ has apportioned it out to each of us in the measure we each need to make that effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. You may need two measures of grace and I may need five, etc, but you got it! Use the grace measures God so graciously has given you. God's Word says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God's "grace is sufficient". We just need to learn to appropriate that measure we've been given.
If we've been 'ticked off' by someone--go and forgive/be forgiven. Eat humble pie, if you have to; apologize--do what it takes to be the peacemaker. Ephesians 4:2 tells us to "be completely humble, patient...bearing with one another in love". God's grace will aid and abet and sustain you through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
"Speak the truth in love" (vs 15-16) and let each of us do our part in this work of maintaining the unity of the Spirit God gave us to keep, no matter what.
Further to this we must decide in our minds, 'what are we' first? Are we Penan, Iban, Kayan, Chinese, African, or North American, first? Are we European first? Or are we Christians (children of God) first? Decide and then act upon it. If you, being a Christian, see yourself first and foremost as one, then act upon it. Read God's Word--see how a Christian is to behave, to be in character and conduct and do it!
Don't say, "I'm of this or that ethnic group, so I do it like this or like that"...see yourself as a Christian and behave as such. "Birds of a feather stick together" so be Christian 'birds' and keep that unity of the Spirit.
We have no excuses! God gave us His Son. God gave us faith. God gave us His Spirit. God gave us unity. God gave us grace. What more do we want?
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
"God bless you!" This is one of the most often heard statements of good will. Well, the good news is that God has indeed blessed us. At least He has blessed those of us who are His children. With what has He blessed us? Ephesians 1:3-14 tells us He has blessed us "with every spiritual blessing in Christ".
Here's a list:
He.....
-chose us to be holy and blameless in His sight
-predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ (it was His pleasure and will to adopt us. Those who have been adopted by earthly parents will be able to appreciate this chosen-ness and the pleasure and elation the adoptive parents must have felt upon getting their new child. God had that pleasure too of choosing each and every one of us!)
-has freely given us His grace in God
-gave us redemption through the blood of Christ
-gave us forgiveness of sins
-made known to us the mystery of His will (so that He could bring all things in Heaven and Earth under one Head, that is Christ)
-chose and predestined the Ephesians to be the first to hope in Christ (this was their privilege..."the first" in their generation...nowadays we have the other blessings but this was one reserved for the early Christians and apostles...very special for them).
-chose and predestined to be the praise of His glory
-marked us with His seal--the Holy Spirit
-guarantees our inheritance until the redemption of our spirit (vs 14) and body (see also 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 8:22-27)
What a barrel of blessings to praise God for!
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
What counts? Is it being circumcised or remaining uncircumcised? Is it still being a Jew or Greek? Being male or female? How about being a slave or free? Or Chinese or some other race? What counts?
Galatians 6:11-18 gives you a concrete answer. "What counts is being a new creation" in Christ. We're ONE in Christ now, no matter which race you are from and no matter your situation in life. We are of the Christian race, if you want to put it that way. As such we're to walk in step with the Holy Spirit of God and be led by Him through the direction of God's Word in our lives.
Paul has a sense of humor. Since you Galatians want to be in bondage to rules, he says in verse 16, "follow this rule"..."walk and be led by the Holy Spirit". This is the law of freedom. It was a burden for the Jews to follow all their laws. An impossible way to try to live by. Paul would know because he was the Pharisee's Pharisee and had lived an impeccable life of living to the exact measure, as much as possible, to the micro letter of the Jewish laws. How he must have felt that burden roll off his shoulders upon his conversion and entry into God's family through becoming a "new creation in Christ where he could be led by the Spirit".
So Paul puzzles, "why, oh why would you want to live like that again!!???" "Come on, people!!" "Get in step with the Spirit". "Don't let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1)
Outward things such as whether or not a person is circumcised, etc, is working on a person from the outside in and doesn't work so well. God works from the inside of a person, with a change of heart to become a new creation, to the outside. Paul said if the Galatians wanted to be circumcised to show they were a new creation, then let it be that circumcision of the heart! Peace and mercy will be upon all who do--even to the people of Israel of God. God gives a new heart and a new mindset.
A quotation from a book I've read last year (2015) written by Steve Cioccolanti, entitled From Buddha to Jesus, says,
".. the teaching of morals will slowly and gradually deteriorate. Just as the quality of food deteriorates little by little, year by year, and people do not notice, so too will they not notice when the teaching of truth deteriorates."
(This is actually quoted by the author who got the quotation from Buddha's prophecy as revealed to Pra-Maha-Gasapa Tayra. I can't recall who that was. Can do your own research into this.)
The point is, it can be seen that working from the outside-in of a person doesn't bring true and lasting change. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit does that type of change occur and is made possible as God is working from the inside to the outside of our souls, purifying our thoughts and our hearts; transforming a person into a new creation in Christ.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
When we love each other as Christ loved (and still loves) us, "carrying each others' burdens" (Galatians 6:1-10) is not sticking our oar into someone else's business. Love as defined in 1 Corinthians 13 is a great way to love others. When we love others in this manner we fulfill God's law.
That love can be seen as caring about what happens to one of our brothers or sisters-in-Christ too. We all still have the sin nature in us and so can still be "caught in a sin". "Caught" as in "stuck" and perhaps unable to help ourselves to get out of it or even to recognize we have a problem. When we love that person and come humbly along side of them and try to help them get out of their "stuckness", this is seen as "carrying their burdens" until such a time as they can come to the Lord in repentance and confession and gain God's forgiveness and purification (1 John 1:9). This is helping, not being nosy!
We must of course, examine ourselves to be sure our hearts are right and not just trying to pick on someone. We need to get the plank out of our own eyes first before trying to get that "speck" out of someone else's. We need to consider that we too could be "caught" and so we need to be very careful that when we want to help another that we are not judging and being critical of them. This would not be love God's way.
However, when we are genuinely caring about another of God's family and want to do good to help them, it may take some doing. Certainly much prayer and supplication for them. And let us not be "weary in doing this good" for them. Let us see where we can connect with them. Help them to be accountable for their actions whether it be in their addictions of compulsion to drink, eat, slander, quickness to anger or of sexual immorality. Let us show love for others to help them overcome in such areas especially those who are of the household of God.
They may or may not respond positively but at least we can continue in prayer for them and encourage towards a better relationship with God and to live in the fear of God. That is "carrying each others' burdens".
Yet, there is another side to the coin, so to speak....Verse 5 tells us that "each one should carry his own burden"!! Is this contradiction? Well, as children of God we are responsible for our own actions before God. In the end, when we come before God we will have to answer to Him, not for what others have said or done, but what we, ourselves have said or done.
We are responsible for our own actions to walk according to the Spirit of God (verse 16-18). We have sinful, natural desires but when we are led by the Spirit, as seen in Galatians 5:16-26, we have little excuse to not behave in a Christ-like manner. We are to live a responsible, holy life. We are to "aim for perfection" (2 Corinthians 13:11); "be holy as God is holy" (1 Peter 1:15). We are God's children so we need to be characterized by being like Him; that is, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 6:22-24).
Let us not give in to those evil human desires but exercise self-control which is one of those characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control can help keep us from yielding to the wrong things. We have no excuses as we have: God's Word; the Holy Spirit's help; and
each others' help (see Galatians 6:1-10). So when we have opportunity to help, don't think you are being nosy, rather with God's love, help!
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast....
Isn't it great that as followers of Jesus Christ we don't have to get up every single morning and remind ourselves to "keep the 10 Commandments or else!" We are not under law! However, we abide by the Holy Spirit indwelling us. So as Christians, living to please God can come
"naturally" when we allow the Holy Spirit to sit on the throne of our hearts to be led by Him instead of by our own will and human desires. When we open up our hearts and willingly follow His ways out of love for God and gratitude towards Him and Jesus for what they have done for us.
"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8-9)
Look in the Bible at the letter to the Galatians in chapter 5 and verses 16-18 and verse 26. And then go back to verse 1. We can have so much freedom in Christ. Paul wrote to the Galatians because false teachers were messing with them, telling them that besides accepting Jesus Christ as Savior they have to do something else; add-ons for good measure, so to speak. Those false teachers were telling them they have to go back to the Law. Yes, accept Jesus as Savior, but... but...you need to do this and that and the other things to cinch it. NO WAY! That way is to go back into bondage and slavery. Now, said Paul, is the day of grace and the time to live by the Spirit of God, Who is with and in each believer and follower of Jesus Christ leading and guiding us into God's will and way for us.
~ERC 2016~
Morning musings with the boys at breakfast....
They just care about themselves; that's false prophets for ya. Always looking for a profit. They care about their own agenda: power, influence, $$, a following, all topped with pride and depravity (see Galatians 4:17-18).
The apostle Paul was a true apostle (see Galatians 4:19-20). He cared very deeply about his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. He admonished them of the true way to walk with Christ and this for their own good and benefit.
When we follow the true way we are free in Christ. Let us follow the way of truth.
Follow God's way through Jesus Christ and you'll be free of the penalty of your sins and move towards greater spiritual freedom in everyday life. As we work at our sanctification we will have greater freedom from those things which entangle us and, among other things, free from falseness.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast....
We're all in this together. One family. One as being in the same family having gotten there by "faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26-29) We came to Jesus by faith which is a gift of God.
God made a covenant with Abraham of old. Abraham believed God's promise. God commended him for his faith and says all of us who have such faith are Abraham's children. We are all of the same faith. (Galatians 3:15-29)
Through faith NOT through our own merit. Faith was, and still is, a gift. (Romans 6:23)
Do you see yourself then as your race first and foremost? Or your religion? Or of your country first? Or as a child of God first? That which is your priority is that which you will serve.
As Christians, let us see ourselves as children of God and characterize ourselves in line with God's Word and become more like Christ. Let's not say, "Oh, I'm such and such a race, we do it like this or we do it like that." This is divisive in a Christian circle. Rather, let's hear and encourage one another to say, "A child of God behaves like this or like that," and then do so.
How can one find out what characterizes a child of God? Read God's Word of course. Obey it. Remember we became a child of God by faith. So that is a start. Be full of faith in God, not just for our salvation which is paramount to this process of becoming more like Christ, but also build up our faith, hope and trust in Him. Walk by faith not by sight. The books of James and 1st and 2nd Peter are good for starters. Have a go.
Take joy and hold on to joy too. When someone asks what race you are, say joyfully, the human race. And I hope you can see Christ in me.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
Back in March of 2015 we were reading Psalm 24:3-4 which asks,
"Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His Holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart."
We who are children of God, made His offspring through Jesus Christ, can stand in His awesome presence. Lift up your voices. Praise Him Who has made you clean and pure in His sight. He is worthy of all our praise and adoration. We His children can do this.
Live life in honesty and with integrity. Be holy as He is holy. Avoid loopholes and gray areas of living.
(You can check out my earlier posts on this subject called "White, Gray, Black-Part 1, Part 2, Part 3")
Praise Him, Praise Him all you children of God!
~ERC 2015~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast....
Do you feel like it? To love your enemies and to bless and pray for those who persecute you? Is this possible?!! Who wants to do that!? This is what God asks of us who are followers of Jesus Christ...it's a command, actually. See Matthew 4:43-45 and Roman 12:14-21; very comprehensive in what we are asked to do. "Bless and curse not"! "Feed 'em when they are hungry"! This really goes against our natural inclinations but God's divine power and grace is in us through His Holy Spirit aiding and abetting us to do so.
Back in March of 2015 there were newscasts about the exceedingly awful actions of the ISIS and Boko Haram groups. All those things they perpetrated towards our brothers and sisters in Christ (as well as towards others) in those countries of Iraq and Nigeria and elsewhere. Beheadings and more. Beheadings of adults is bad enough but these were reported to be children! Oh how our hearts hurt for those very brave and courageous children and parents who would not surrender their faith in Jesus Christ to these wicked men. Kidnapping of many young girls to be forced into marriage with them and others they did not wish to marry.
We are supposed to forgive them? We are supposed to bless them? We are supposed to feed them? Again, most of us would not feel like doing so. This is an act of God's grace working through us to be able to do this. These are commands from God.
Remember Saul of Tarsus in the book of Acts? He was just such a man as these people; collecting Christians from house to house to throw them in jail, and etc. A cruel man who seemed unstoppable til God arrested him in his tracks. Look what a great and mighty work he eventually accomplished for God. It could happen again.
Someone sent me a message which included the following:
"Our response to this wave of terror cannot be fear--or hatred. Don't just curse darkness. Be proactive by praying fervently. Ask God to unleash in the Middle East a great outpouring of His Holy Spirit to bring peace and salvation to those who need it." These people certainly do.
Pray for those unrighteous men but also pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ to have ever increasing courage to face the terror and stand firm in their faith; to forgive; to love and pray for and bless their enemies. Don't let them stand alone. Pray. Bless.
~ERC 2016~
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Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
"The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, NOT wanting anyone to perish (go to Hell forever) but he wants everyone to come to repentance."
2 Peter 3:9
There is suffering in this world--everyone experiences it. Why? Because of sin in general (human nature) and sin in particular (our own personal arsenal). There is sin, therefore there is suffering, death and hell. God's Word says in Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death..." That is hard truth and may even seem unfair but we can't blame God. It was Satan and his subtle deception that caused Eve, the first woman who ever lived, to choose to eat the forbidden fruit and then Adam to directly disobey God and eat some too. From there on human beings were under the curse of sin...which is death and full punishment is for us to end up in Hell.
Good news though is that Jesus paid the price for our sin in His death and resurrection. He took the punishment for our sins. Romans 6:23 continues to say that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". Jesus is alive and waiting for one and all to accept His free gift of salvation.
'Karma' has been explained as "getting what we deserve due to our sin". Christianity is "Jesus getting what we deserve due to our sin". He is waiting patiently for you to let Him clear you of your punishment. Accept Jesus as Savior and Lord today. He loves you and wants you to be part of His family.
Admit you have done wrong and are a sinner.
Repent of it.
Believe that Jesus death and resurrection has paid for the punishment for your sins. Even if you think you are a good-living person, you are still a sinner under the curse due to Adam and Eve's disobedience. Seems unfair, yet that's how it is.
Confess then to God and tell Him you are sorry for those sins you've done all your life.
Tell Jesus you accept His gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Him in Heaven. Ask Him to wash your sins clean in His blood which He shed on the cross for you. If it helps, write out all the sins you can think of and go through each one and thank Him for dying for each. "The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7).
When you are truly sincere in this, then you have become a forgiven sinner, called a Christian. You are then a child of God and a follower of Jesus Christ. We still do wrong things though but God has given us a further promise and that is found in the book of the Bible called 1 John and chapter 1 and verse 9 which states
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and clean us from all unrighteousness."
This is one of God's greatest gifts to mankind.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
In my post "Morning Musings-Two-Way Street" we talked about relationships between God and ourselves; our children and ourselves (the parents); and between members of God's family and ourselves. I believe that when we care most for our relationship with our heavenly father God, that the other relationships will fall into place better. This relationship with Him needs honesty and purity. What are some of the ways we can do that?
Continuing from the last few verses of 2 Corinthians 6 we run, naturally, into 2 Corinthians 7. This talks about not being unequally yoked with unbelievers, those who are not of God's family. We are asked to come out from among them and be separate from them since we are sons/daughters of the Lord God Almighty who is the Holy One.
This chapter 7:1 asks us to purify ourselves from anything that would contaminate our body and spirit. In so doing we continually perfect holiness. Our motivation for doing this is our "reverence for God." So, how much do you revere God? Our measure of reverence will manifest itself in our measure of "perfecting holiness."
These verses aren't just for teenagers developing boy-girl relationships. These are for one and all. Who are our business partners? If they are not perfecting holiness, they may well be using unethical practices in business. Do we want to associate ourselves with such people? Are we equally or unequally yoked together (1 Corinthians 6:14)?
Other areas which we need to examine are in the movies we watch; books we read; music we listen to? Are they 'clean'? Are they contaminating our spirits?
May God help you, through the Holy Spirit who indwells each believer in Jesus Christ. Use the Holy Spirit's power to choose to purify out of our lives that which does not revere God.
NOTE: If anyone reading this is married to someone who is not a Christian and you have willingly chosen to marry that person against God's will but do repent of it, you still cannot "purify your spouse out of your life". The consequences of your choice will be with you until Jesus comes or "until death do you part". God is merciful and gracious and may bring your spouse to Christ; but he may not. God is the one who knows the hearts of mankind.
If you've become a Christian after being married, God's Word asks that person to hang on and to live an exemplary Christian life so as to hopefully and prayerfully get your spouse's attention and win him or her to Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 7:8-16)
Further to this, we have Titus 2:6-15 which talks about purifying oneself and having integrity. Couple that again with 1 Peter 1:13-15, 22, 23 and 1 Peter 2:1-3 which speaks of being holy in all we do. There are no gray areas--no loopholes. Prepare our minds to be holy. Be holy.
This action calls for ridding ourselves of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Take note of the 'all's' and 'every's'. They emphasize the thoroughness we need to exercise in purifying our hearts and minds to be holy as God is holy. No loopholes. Spit spot!
1 Peter 2:12 admonishes
"Live such lives that though pagans may accuse you of any wrong doing, they'll see your good deeds and glorify God..."
Going a way back into the Old Testament, back to Exodus 30:22-29 and to 40:9-10, when Moses and the Israelites were setting up the Tabernacle for worshiping God, even the Bronze Altar of sacrifice and all its utensils were to be made holy before God! If things of worship needed to be made holy, how much more the worshipers!
When we become followers of Jesus Christ by accepting God's gift of salvation, God Himself has made us righteous (pure) in His sight by Jesus' work on the cross. (Jesus death and resurrection. Romans 5:18-20) Yet we still must be living as "living sacrifices" before God (Romans 12). To do this we must live right in the sight of man and of our own selves.
There is work to do. To be those "living sacrifices" before God look at the book of James. This is to perfect our faith to be holy as He is holy in our ongoing Christian living; that is, in our character and conduct: are we greedy; are we sly in business to hurt another; do we cheat....? As followers of Jesus Christ we need to become ever more like Him in kindness, meekness, patience, generosity, goodness and grace; to name a few. These are "acts of worship" before God. James 1:3, 4, and 27 clearly show us how we can be doing these things to work and persevere toward maturity and to keep "oneself from being polluted by the world". This does not save us rather, it sanctifies and purifies us to be ever more like Jesus.
When we examine ourselves honestly in God's sight, daily communing with Him and conforming to His Word, will and ways, our relationship with Him will grow. We will trust Him more and more. We will, out of gratitude for Him, aim for that perfection and holiness with continual purification as 1 John 1:9 states:
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
I trust God to do that for me.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...
Open wide your hearts; relationships are a two-way street. In 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 we read about Paul speaking to the Corinthians "as to my children." He opens his heart to them and wants that reciprocated. A relationship takes effort and input and needs to be ongoing and sustained to keep it vibrant.
Don't withhold affection from each other (appropriate manner, of course). Same with our Heavenly Father. He has given us so much, how do we respond? Ignore or engage?
The Corinthians were ignoring and outright disowning that they even knew Paul and Timothy. Yet Paul was the one who had brought them the Gospel message of Jesus in the first place. He had taught them the way of Jesus!
Paul suffered many hardships doing that too and this on their behalf. They knew it, yet, again, they were regarding Paul and Timothy as impostors!
Thus Paul's very direct and blunt exhortations and admonitions to them. He topped those with a softening appeal for them to open their hearts wide to Timothy and himself, as brothers-in-Christ and as friends and to a relationship of mutual affection. This was Paul, as father to his spiritual children.
Similarly we can establish such two-way relationships with our children; or as children, with your parents. God loves to work in families. It takes time and trust but they can develop over time.
A second plane is to open wide our hearts, as children of God, to Him, and build up this relationship. It is the most important one in the whole wide world, universe, and all of creation for that matter. God seeks to commune with us. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. He has gone all out for you, will you go all out for Him; with Him?
For those of us in the family of God, we need to reach out to each other too; especially within your local church. I read one writer once (sorry I can't recall which book or writer) who asked if you know your church members well enough to even know the name of their cat! This is not in the busybody manner; far be the thought! However do we care about each other enough to get to know them and their cares and concerns so that we can help each other mature in Christ and give help in time of need? Console and mourn when they mourn? Rejoice when they rejoice? This too, is a two-way street. Do we allow others into our life to accept their care for us?
May the Lord enable us all in our relationships to take the time, make the effort and give the care as well as to receive it.
~ERC 2016~
Morning Musings With The Boys At Breakfast....
Sometimes we feel like we have been forgotten and left to ourselves; what do you think? Did Jesus leave us to fend for ourselves? As we age our "earthly tent" is being "destroyed" with the ravages of life and sin, sickness or just age. In this we look more and more to our "heavenly body"; longing to be "away from the body and at home with the Lord" It seems like a long time.
Maybe not for young guys like you but you will see as you get older and the wear and tear of life comes over you. Will you wish to be "...home with the Lord?" Do you? Do I? What do we do in the meantime despite our weaknesses? Bemoan them or live life in the confidence and knowledge that we have a purpose and that even when we feel heaven is silent we still have the faith to continue on? What promises are there that we are remembered?
The purposes and the promise...we will meet our Maker some day although no one knows the day or hour. However, we must live life to please the Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the deposit or the "guarantee" we will be with Jesus some day. Check out 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. God is faithful and these are no idle promises. We will be with Him someday and be clothed with new bodies that don't wear out; "imperishable" and that don't "fade away". We will meet Him and be with Him to meet to part no more.
God's kindness and goodness gives us His loving guarantee we have not been abandoned here on earth and there are better things to come. Out of love we can give back to Him, make it our goal to please Him and show Him our gratitude. If you look at 2 Cor 5:21 you'll see God did this for us; in Jesus, we have the righteousness of God.
It is here and now on earth that we can please Him because of that. Can we please God if we are "away from the body" (vs 9). Don't let our spirits roam around and do evil. Don't receive God's grace in vain. Don't receive it and then don't bother living the Christian life. No. We must live our life as new creatures in Christ.
We need to live this way, no matter what; even if it feels like we've been forgotten. Remember we have God's Holy Spirit indwelling us, leading and guiding us. God's not ever going to forget.
~ERC 2016~
Now through Jesus' work on the cross and His Holy Spirit's indwelling of each believer, He's 
If we've been 'ticked off' by someone--go and forgive/be forgiven. Eat humble pie, if you have to; apologize--do what it takes to be the peacemaker. Ephesians 4:2 tells us to "be completely humble, patient...bearing with one another in love". God's grace will aid and abet and sustain you through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
