Ouch! Or more likely, Oooooooooowww! As a boy, I hated shots. Needles scared me witless. Ole Doc Jones, his faithful nurse and wife, Mrs. Jones, and my mother would hold me down on the black leather examination bed. Doc would give me a big dose of penicillin in my bared buttocks. It did not just hurt, but it kept hurting for quite a while.
But those ear infections and sore throats got well. I got back to playing. I started feeling better. I was healthier and stronger.
My Mom would say, “This is only going hurt for a little while.” As a child that did not help much. But it did help me understand other pains in life as I grew older. Life is short and painful. If you follow Jesus Christ as Lord, the world will hate you and despise you as being judgmental and hateful. Life is short and painful, but eternity is very, very long.
A lifelong follower of Jesus, a man named Peter, said, “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while” (1 Peter 5:10).
“The God of all grace” is how Peter begins. When you trust Jesus, God gives you all His grace. All your sins are forgiven! You get all of eternal life. All God’s peace forever becomes yours. He gifts you with all “His eternal glory in Christ.” Then in heaven forever you will be all “restored, established, strengthened, and supported.” Everything you ever wanted or wished for will all be provided in a holy and glorious way.
When you get an infection, you can choose not to take an antibiotic and experience an increase in the infection. When you choose to live your short life without Christ, then you choose not to reject God’s grace, you choose to refuse heaven, and you choose to live in eternity without God’s restoring, establishing, strengthening, and support.
Life on earth is painful whether you choose Christ not. But when this life is over, Jesus makes all the difference how your eternal life will be. Trust Jesus today.
Come find friendship, fellowship, and family. Worship on Sundays at 8:45am or 11:00am, and 18 Bible Classes for all ages meet at 10:00am. Watch at Balboa.Live, Facebook, or YouTube. www.BalboaBaptist.Church