Proverbs 13:12-13 ESV
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself,
but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.”
In context, this chapter in Proverbs 13 is comparing the
life of the righteous to the life of the wicked. The righteous hates falsehood,
but the wicked brings shame and disgrace. Righteousness guards him whose way is
blameless, but sin overthrows the wicked. So, when this speaks of hope
deferred, I believe it is not speaking of any hope, but of the hope we have in
our Lord and in his salvation and of eternity spent with him in heaven,
provided that we have died with him to sin and we are obeying him. For our
salvation won’t be complete until Jesus takes us to be with him.
But not just that. I have the hope of some loved ones
turning their lives over to Jesus Christ, surrendering their lives to him
wholly, following him in all of his ways, no longer living like the world, but
now their lives given over to the Lord to do his will for the rest of their
time here on this earth. And it does make my heart sick (I grieve) to see some
of them still walking in the ways of the world, especially those professing
faith in Jesus Christ. For I have not yet received the answer to my prayers for
them.
But also, the older that I get, and the more suffering I go
through, I echo Paul’s words:
“If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:22-23).
Sometimes I feel homesick for my heavenly home, especially
these past 11 days where our lives and our apartment (home) have been in
upheaval. I am not wishing to die, so please don’t misunderstand me. Just
sometimes I long for my heavenly home where sin is no more, and where there
will be no more pain or sorrow or suffering. And people won’t hurt other people
on purpose. And there will not be hate and lies and deception, but only truth
and righteousness. For I weep over this sin-sick world of ours.
And the sad reality we are all faced with here is that not
everyone is going to heaven when they die, not even seemingly “good” people.
For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the
kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in
heaven. And many are going to stand before him on that day and claim the things
they did in his name, and he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart
from me you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23).
So, please know that if you walk (in conduct) in deliberate
and habitual sin and not in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord, you don’t
know him, he doesn’t know you, and you are not born of God but you are of the
devil. And heaven is not your eternal destiny, and you will not inherit eternal
life with God. But if you walk according to the Spirit, in righteousness, in
obedience to the Lord, then you have the hope of eternal life with God. And you
can read all about this in these verses:
Sweet Beulah Land
By Squire Parsons
I'm kind of homesick for a country
To which I've never been before.
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
For time won't matter anymore.
I'm looking now, just across the river
To where my faith, shall end in sight
There's just a few more days to labor.
Then I will take my heavenly flight.
Beulah Land I'm longing for you
And some day on thee I'll stand
There my home shall be eternal
Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW8W7RXg6AA
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