non-denominational

Your Life And What Comes After (48): Mind Your Business

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Luke chapter 2 recounts when Jesus was twelve years old and traveled with His family to Jerusalem for Passover—something they did every year. But this time was different. When the group started heading home, Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with relatives. After a full day of traveling, they realized He was missing.

They rushed back to Jerusalem and searched for Him everywhere. Finally, they found Him in the Temple, calmly sitting with the teachers, asking questions, answering theirs, and amazing everyone with His understanding. When His parents asked why He had stayed behind, Jesus said something both simple and huge: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”

About Your Father’s Business

Jesus started at twelve years old by learning the Scriptures, by being curious, by putting God first, and by daring to push the limits in order to understand the deeper things of God and life.

Make your heavenly Father’s business your business, and follow the example of Jesus. Jesus showed us what God’s business is.

2 Corinthians 5:19a
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…

God’s business plan is to bring His creation and His people all the way back to Him, and Jesus kept busy doing exactly that. Wherever He went He taught people about God’s love and purposes. He healed the sick, forgave sinners, fed the hungry, shined light in darkness, and brought hope to the poor and needy.

Grow, Learn, Develop

Even though Jesus knew His Father’s business early in His life, He didn’t stay in the Temple forever, He went back home with Mary and Joseph and obeyed them, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” That means Jesus grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially.

He learned and developed character and wisdom. If you want to know what you are supposed to be doing in your own life, remember these two things;

  1. Your calling and purpose in life are not about what you do; they’re about what kind of person you choose to be.
  2. As you continue to learn, grow, and develop in the knowledge of God and the world around you amazing paths will open up for you.

Next, we’ll talk more about rumbling through the world.

Your Life And What Comes After (47): Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

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Callum had been saving his allowance for weeks, tucking away each crumpled dollar with the quiet excitement of a kid who finally felt old enough to make his own choices. He’d planned to split it in half—keep some, give some—maybe to one of those charities for people in faraway countries he saw on TV. But when the first big March snowstorm hit and he saw Mrs. Halvorson’s walkway buried under a heavy drift, the idea came to him as naturally as breathing. She was nearly eighty, lived alone, and always waved to him from her window. Helping her felt like the right place for his “give‑away” half to go.

So Callum marched into the hardware store, allowance clutched in his mittened hand, and bought a brand‑new snow shovel—bright red, sturdy, and just his size. That afternoon he trudged across the street and started clearing Mrs. Halvorson’s walk, pushing the snow aside in long, determined sweeps. When she opened the door to thank him, Callum just grinned and said he was putting his savings to good use.

The second part of the Great Commandment, after loving God completely, is to love your neighbor as yourself. What does that mean, and how do you do that?

Who is your neighbor? Well, your neighbors are those close to you—people you see every day, your family, and your community.

The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

It’s the same as saying, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule.

Try some of these ideas in your daily life to practice loving and giving to others.

  • First thing in the morning, think of one nice thing you’re going to do for someone you see every day, and then do it.
  • Pray for a growing heart to love others, not a growing bank account. Pray for a shiny new heart, not a shiny new car.
  • Let someone else get in front of you in line if they need to.
  • Smile at folks, even if you don’t feel like it.
  • Listen more than you talk; that’s why God gave you two ears and only one mouth.
  • Tell your mom and dad, and your sister and brother how much you love and appreciate them.
  • Shovel snow off your elderly neighbor’s sidewalk.

Kindness and Forgiveness

To love your neighbor as yourself can be hard sometimes, but it’s always simple. The Apostle Paul puts it clearly in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Love God completely and treat others as you would like them to treat you. This is the not-so-secret key to plugging into God’s forever plan right now.

They Said It: Four Quotes On The Book Of Nehemiah

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Four interesting quotes from about the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah:

Charles Spurgeon

“Nehemiah teaches us that when God calls a man to build, no opposition can finally prevail against him, for prayer and perseverance are stronger than all the enemies of the wall.”

Matthew Henry

“The success of Nehemiah’s work was owing more to his piety than to his policy; he prayed over all, and then set his hand to the work.”

F. B. Meyer

“Nehemiah shows what God can do through one consecrated soul who feels the burden of His people and will not rest until the ruins are rebuilt.”

Derek Kidner

“Nehemiah’s story is a reminder that renewal requires courage, vigilance, and above all a heart aligned with the purposes of God.”

Your Life And What Comes After (46): Heart, Soul, And Mind

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Thomas Cole – The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds

Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

So, how do you love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind? What does that mean?

Heart
Love God from the center of who you are, not just with emotions, but with your decisions and heartfelt goals.

Soul
Love God with what makes you you—with your whole life, not just one part of it on Sundays at church.

Mind
Love God with your thoughts, your attention, and the way you think deeply about the world around you.

Love Is Action

Here are some things to do daily to put love for God into action.

  • Pray. Start every day by talking to your Heavenly Father and listening as He talks to you.
  • Tell God the desires of your heart; you must speak your desires before God. You must speak them.
  • Read and study God’s Word. God has revealed Himself, His endless love, and His grand plan in the Bible. It also tells us how we are to obey His will for us so that we will live the awesome lives He desires for us.
  • Praying and reading the Word of God put you in His presence, and when you’re in His presence, your heart, soul, and mind will worship Him and praise His glorious works.
  • Be aware during the day that you live your life before God, not just other people.

Make these love actions habits in your daily life, and you will see how putting yourself into God’s heart will make your life a wondrous dream come true.

Now, how do we do the second part of the Great Commandment? That’s next.

Your Life And What Comes After (45): How To Live Today

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Taking everything we’ve learned so far in our journey into “Your Life And What Comes After: Plugging Into God’s Forever Plan Now,” let’s start zeroing in on what you can do today—and every day—to live a fantastic life that is pleasing to God and helps you find your perfect, special place in God’s grand plan.

The best recipe for tapping into God’s purposes and living our best lives the way we’re meant to is found in the Great Commandment in Matthew chapter 22.

Jesus Hits a Homerun

Right before Jesus gives the Great Commandment, the religious leaders are basically tag‑teaming to trip Him up. They try a trick question about paying taxes, and Jesus answers so cleanly that they back off. Then they jump in with a wild question about marriage in the resurrection, and Jesus shuts that down too. At this point, everyone who tried to trap Him has struck out in front of the crowd.

So they huddle up again and send in one of their “experts” to ask what they think is the perfect trap: “Which commandment is the greatest?” They’re hoping He’ll pick the wrong one. Instead, Jesus cuts through all their debates with a perfect, simple answer:

Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

That’s the Great Commandment—love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And that’s our North Star for plugging into God’s grand plan. It doesn’t mean you have to be churchy and religious all the time. But what does it mean, and how do we actually live it out?

That’s what we’ll look at next.

Your Life And What Comes After (44): Echoes And Crowns

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When he was a young clerk J.C. Penney worked in a small Colorado dry-goods store, he wasn’t given any special authority or status. But he consistently showed up early, treated every customer with unusual respect, and took personal responsibility for even the smallest tasks. His reliability stood out so much that the store’s owners trusted him with ordering inventory, managing accounts, and eventually running the entire operation whenever they were away. His steady character—not flash or ambition—proved he could be trusted with more.

That faithfulness paid off. The owners later invited Penney to become a partner in a new store, giving him far more responsibility than he had ever held before. He poured the same diligence into that opportunity, and it eventually grew into the nationwide J.C. Penney Company. His rise wasn’t sudden or glamorous—it was the natural reward for someone who quietly proved his worth day after day until greater responsibility became the obvious next step.

The Apostle Paul says something a little surprising in his second letter to the believers in Corinth: followers of Jesus will one day appear before His judgment seat.

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

This isn’t to judge whether or not the believer is saved. That judgment was already made when Jesus took our place on the cross, God raised Him from the dead, and we believed in that resurrection and confessed Christ as our Lord.

The judgment seat talked about here is the one where the faithful receive their assignments in the world to come based on the good works we did for Him in our lives.

Echoes In Eternity

Our words and actions now will follow us into God’s heaven-on-earth, and when each of us appears before Jesus Christ, He will decide who can be entrusted with which responsibilities as His rule reaches over the whole new and glorious world.

We will have jobs to do in that new world. What an amazing and wonderful eternity God has in store for us! No more death, sickness, pain, or evil.

Nothing done in our lives is meaningless; it all follows us into an endless eternity in an endless universe with the job of keeping God’s creation running and in good order, where we will once again be the full, shining bearers of God’s image.

Earning Some Crowns

The Bible also tells us about our coming rewards and responsibilities and describes them as crowns.

There is the crown of righteousness for those who love Christ’s appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

A crown of life is promised to those who love the Lord and patiently endure the troubles of life.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

A crown of glory is given to faithful shepherds of God’s people.

1 Peter 5:3-4
Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

And an imperishable crown is promised to those who are disciplined and run the marathon of life in faith.

1 Corinthians 9:25
 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

See, God remembers every patient, faithful good work, every resisted temptation, and all of our obedient acts done in love. There is nothing that we do for Him that disappears or is forgotten.

Our rewards and new jobs in God’s heaven-on-earth are real and waiting for us to claim them by what we do in the here-and-now.

Death Row Letters: Replay Two

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This is a repost of the second letter in our Death Row Letters series.

Dear Anti-natalists and Nihilists,

It may strike you as odd, writing letters to those of you who embrace nihilism and anti-natalism from a person on death row. But as I pointed out in my first letter, we’re all on death row. So not so odd after all, right?

I’ll start by making sure I understand who y’all anti-natalists and nihilists are and what it is that you claim to believe. Definitions.

Anti-natalism, according to the cambridge.org dictionary is defined as “…the belief that it is morally wrong to have children or that people should be encouraged not to have children.”

Allow me to point out the obvious here, I’m glad that my parents didn’t think that way. I understand that there may be some who have reason to believe that life is nothing but a sad and miserable existence, even a tortuous, horrible existence.

But I’m quite certain that the overwhelming majority of folks in the world are pretty happy to be alive. This seems self-evident.

So why not have kids, babies, bambinos, babushkas, little bundles of joy? Is the world and life really that bad for you guys and gals that you don’t want to experience the joy and wonder of parenthood?

Plus, how can you be certain that your little one born into this dark and dreary world won’t be the someone who can make life brighter and better for everyone, or at least for some? No? Well, that’s a level of hopelessness and pessimism I will never understand.

It seems to me that we have a God-given instinct to have and raise children to be noble and awesome beings and to reflect the God of creation, to drive back the darkness, and to fulfill an eternal destiny. How can you, or why would you try to smother that instinct?

Genesis 1:28 states the Creator’s intention and purpose for creation this way:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (KJV)

What a calling!

Whoa, where has the time gone? I only got as far anti-natalism and left y’all nihilists out of this letter, even though I meant to address you as well. We’ll chat a bit in the next letter, I promise.

Sincerely,
Your fellow death row occupant

Your Life And What Comes After (43): You Are In Training

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Jesus often used stories, called parables, to teach His followers important lessons. One of those lessons is that if you’re faithful with small things now, God will trust you with bigger things later.

In the coming kingdom and the new heaven‑on‑earth, that means real responsibility—leadership, creativity, and purpose.

Luke 19:17
And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

Your character—the kind of person you decide to be—takes work. You have to practice to develop good qualities like courage, patience, honesty, love, and wisdom. And sometimes facing hard things and going through hard times can be God’s way of helping you shape that good character.

Those good qualities you develop aren’t for this life only, they don’t disappear; they continue into eternity.

What Will Follow You?

Revelation 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Your works are the things you do and the words you speak.

Good works are the ones you do out of love for God and His people. Those works add value to the world around you and they glorify our heavenly Father.

Not-so-good works are the ones that are selfish and dishonest – they don’t glorify God and they aren’t helpful to others around you. In fact, sometimes they can even be harmful.

That means the good works you do now don’t vanish. They show up again in the world to come. What kind of works do you want following you into God’s new heaven-on-earth?

Practicing For Your Future Job

In the future kingdom, we will serve and reign with Him.

Revelation 22:3–5
And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

That means that the good character we build now prepares us to rule and serve forever in God’s restored creation.

This life is not a waiting room. It’s a training ground for the new life in the kingdom.

Your Life And What Comes After (42): Gold And Silver, Or Hay And Stubble

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Lucas dumped his big bin of Legos onto the carpet, but he pushed aside the faded, chewed‑up bricks without a second glance. Today he was building a castle, and not just any castle—his masterpiece. He wanted the bright, solid, perfectly‑shaped pieces, the ones that clicked together with that satisfying snap. He searched for the best towers, the cleanest walls, and the strongest foundation. Anything cracked, bent, or worn‑out got tossed into a little “not‑good‑enough” pile off to the side.

As the castle grew taller, Lucas stepped back and admired it. Using only the best pieces made the whole thing stronger, sturdier, and way more impressive. He realized something: if he wanted to build something that would last, he couldn’t use junk. He needed quality.

Now And Forever

The Bible teaches us that what we do now matters forever.

A lot of people think this life is just “practice” and the real stuff starts when God’s grand plan is realized and we are with Him and each other in God’s heaven‑on‑earth future. But the Bible actually teaches something even more awesome.

The old saying, “You can’t take it with you when you go,” isn’t entirely true. You will take something with you from this life into the world and age to come.

Not your smartphone or your Pokémon card collection—but your choices, your character, your love, your faithfulness. Those things last.

Choose The Best Legos

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul says our lives are like a building project. Some people build with gold—good choices, love, serving others, following Jesus. Others build with hay—selfish choices, laziness, ignoring God.

1 Corinthians 3:12
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

When Jesus returns, everything gets tested as if in a fire. The good stuff lasts. The junk burns away. This doesn’t mean you’re in danger of losing the gift of everlasting life with God—but what you build with matters.

Next, we’ll look closer at what all of this means.

Death Row Letters: Replay One

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This is a repost of first letter in our Death Row Letters series.

Dear Everyone,

We’re all on death row.

The rich CEO in the modern high-rise. The homeless man huddled in a filthy blanket on the street. The young housewife in suburbia. The children on the school playground.

We’re all on death row.

I’m not saying this to be ghoulish or overly dramatic – it’s just the truth. The Grim Reaper comes for us all (with some exceptions, which I’ll explore at some point in future letters). It may not be by firing squad or Old Sparky the electric chair or lethal injection in some prison basement somewhere, but the result is the same for each of us (again, some exceptions).

The difference between the the vast majority of us and actual death row inmates is that we get to walk around as we please waiting for The Day, while they are sitting in their cells waiting for The Day. That’s a very big difference, isn’t it? Maybe, maybe not.

Because whether you’re on the ‘outside’ death row or the ‘inside’ death row the questions are the same: What are you doing with your remaining time and what is your state of mind during the wait?

We can waste our time wallowing in despair and self-pity, or we can face our circumstance with courage and hope. We can lead an empty, purposeless existence waiting for annihilation and nothingness, or we can believe in and find something more than the empty darkness we imagine.

There is something more frightening than death, and that is living a life without purpose or hope.

So, until my next letter comes your way, don’t be afraid, we’re all on death row together and there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Sincerely,
Your fellow death row occupant