And just as it is appointed for people to die once — and after this, judgment — so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. Hebrews 9:27-28

You only live once. This is a great lie of the evil antagonist of our souls. The enemy wants us to believe that this life is all there is and beyond that lays a great chasm of nothing—a cessation of existence with our final breath that commences into an eternal rest of mind and soul.

The famous and daring Bear Grylls enjoyed two successful seasons of Running Wild with celebrity guests. In each episode, the survivalist adventurer took a Hollywood star or a sports celebrity on a 48 hour adventure within the most dangerous and breathtaking landscapes around the globe. Their fears are pushed to the limit, and their wits and wills tested, as they faced dangerous terrain and death defying obstacles to get to a predetermined extraction point and the completion of their journey.

In one 2014 episode, guest adventurer rookie, Zac Efron is challenged by Bear to cross achasm by sliding on his belly on a single rope with no safety net to catch him should he plunge to a rocky death. A maneuver utilized by military personnel and taught in basic training is quickly tutored to Efron minutes before he braves this endeavor hundreds of feet above a rocky freefall. Upon completion, Efron and Grylls rest to reflect on the parallels of this accomplishment and life’s challenges. Efron looks at the beauty of the Appalachian Mountain Range then looks back at Bear Grylls and communicates what we have embraced as a culture paralyzed in the temporary, “this is all there is, you only live once you know?”

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A tenacious spirit is one that keeps a firm hold. That clings or adheres closely.  This begs the question, what are we clinging closely to today? Our ideologies, our wills, the ways of the world, the spirit of man, or the Spirit of God, God’s teachings in the Bible…the Truth?

Usually when we are pressed hard by life’s circumstances or even day to day aggravations , that which we cling to the most will be evident in our speech and actions. When we are faced with moral dilemmas, choices to speak up or speak out on what we profess to believe, the truth of our loyalties will surface in our responses. Don’t we want to be found tenaciously clinging to God and the truths manifested in Jesus Christ?

Persistent, determined, dogged, strong-willed, tireless, indefatigable, resolute, patient, unflagging, staunch, steadfast, untiring, unwavering, unswerving, unshakable, unyielding, insistent, these are all characteristics of a tenacious spirit. But what do they practically look like? I think the answer is found in part in the life of Paul and Silas.

Remember when Paul and Silas were traveling and preaching in Macedonia as accounted in Acts chapter 16? Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned by magistrates in the city for preaching the gospel to Romans who did not want any part of their message. Let’s not skip over that too quickly, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. That’s not part of a normal days work for most missionaries; considering all who profess Jesus should live on mission.

As soon as they were thrown into prison, they were chained in stocks in the inner prison. We should think that at this point, Paul and Silas most wanted to take a nap and lament their situation. However, their reaction is more tenacious than that. At midnight, they began to pray and sing praises unto the Lord–within the hearing of their fellow inmates. Upon their praises, the earth trembles in an earthquake and shakes loose their chains. (Acts 16:26)

The watching lost will always tremble at resounding praise and worship of Jesus even in the midst of staggering injustice in the world.

Consider recently in the case of the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Wasn’t the watching world astounded at the display of love and forgiveness in the face of outright evil and hate? The unshakable adherence of God’s people to His ways and to prayer during the hardest times, spoke louder to the truth of the message of the gospel than vandalism and complaints of citizens who likewise feel falsely accused and unfairly targeted. (See here.)

Paul and Silas’ reactions in the face of false imprisonment and harsh incarceration made a lasting difference leading unto salvation for the prison guard and his family. Rioting and vandalism in Macedonia wouldn’t have made as lasting of an impact as the prayer, worship, and faithfulness to both man’s law and God’s decrees that Paul and Silas demonstrated. Is it any different in our day? 

Let us tenaciously cling to the message and methods of the Bible that effect change on minor and major scales both yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The message, method, and mission of the gospel has not veered with the wavering tide of popular opinion and neither should the Church. In these turbulent times when babies are being killed and their parts sold, when Christians are imprisoned and persecuted, when people are turning each to their own way and one against another, faithfulness to our True King, Jesus Christ, will be mocked and labeled treason to our lost and dying world.

In the recently published book by the late Chuck Colson, My Final Word, the author makes the case that the ultimate offense of the gospel is another king. Christians are proclaiming another loyalty. Consider his words:

This explains the resistance of American intellectuals and the cultural elite to the gospel: We are proclaiming another loyalty. When we teach Intelligent Design, for example, we are teaching our kids that there is a higher power to which they are beholden. What does that do to the authority of their teacher, principal, or textbook writer, or other cultural elites who think they really do run the world? To them, Christians are “causing trouble all over the world.” But it’s inherent in the nature of our message.

Mr. Colson goes on to say that Paul used apologetics to preach to the people at Mars Hill. Interestingly, many sneered at him and only a few became followers. However… should you visit the Acropolis today, he writes, the flag is lowered to half-staff on Good Friday and raised on Easter Sunday morning to full staff.

Two thousand years later what was only the response of a few followers at Mars Hill, or in Macedonia, has now continued to be added to in number. The lesson: Don’t loose your tenacity to preach the gospel and live in obedience to Jesus Christ fellow brother and sister. What may seem a small, yet faithful impact in our own lives, cannot be measured in compound interest in the future nor eternity. As David Platt reminds us in his recent book, Counter Culture, we aren’t living for today or twenty years from now, we are living for twenty billion years from now.

Be tenacious with the gospel message and methods of Jesus Christ.

You may have the greatest potential impact with your witness when life has you in a corner.

~Ron Cooney, A Match Made in Heaven?

When I was a newlywed, my expectations for myself and my home were very high. See if you identify with any of these expectations I placed on myself:

• I was certain that in order to maintain a good home, I must have matching hand towels, bath towels, and wash clothes
• These all had to be lined neatly in my linen closet and most certainly out for guests.
• If laundry was visible anywhere when people were coming over, or dishes were piled in the sink, then those were signs I was utterly falling behind.

Do I sound like a frustrated perfectionist or a typical Type A personality? Undoubtedly, the answer is yes.

Thirteen years later, I have micro-evolved into a different, subtly less unrealistic and more attainable homemaking mantra.

Why the change?

Life happened.

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In high school I set plenty of goals: captain of the cheerleading squad, valedictorian, president of the student government, county Jr. Miss, etc. Some goals were met, others not. When I went to college, my one spoken goal was to meet my man. Of course, I certainly wanted to graduate, join a sorority, find a church to plug into, form friendships, and cheer on the Auburn Tiger football team—which I did! But those weren’t audibly stated goals; they were more like checkboxes waiting to be ticked off.

Fast forward fifteen years (where does the time go?) and many more goals have brought me to today: wife, mom of two, former foster-mom of one, writer, and a woman passionate about apologetics, fitness, enjoying the outdoors, and making disciples, both in home education and women’s groups. However, I can say with greatest certainty that all the short-term or long-term planning I have ever considered would not have placed me exactly in the setting that I find myself.  Yes, I wanted to be a wife, mom, and writer, but the details are different than I would have planned.

So, what does this talk of goals have to do with my current dreams?

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So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come.He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. (Hebrews 9:11-12, NLT)

In the tabernacle Moses built for the Spirit of God to dwell with His people, and subsequently the temple in Jerusalem constructed by Solomon as a permanent House of God, there was a room in which the high priest entered only one time per year to offer an animal sacrifice to atone the sins of the people and himself. This room was called the Most Holy Place. Upon the death of Jesus, the curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place was ripped in two from top to bottom. This signified the redemption of man by Jesus Christ alone.

Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart (Matthew 27:50-51, NLT)

Today the only veil that remains is the present and the step into eternity separated by our final breath and our first encounter with God. For we are destined once to die and then the judgement. (Hebrews 9:27)

What about those beyond the veil of time? Can they see us who remain? Can they direct us, be proud of us, cheer us on? These are questions one either has, or attributes we assign in an effort to ease the sting of death we feel so very deeply.

Let’s start with what we know.

In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells a story of a rich ruler who despised a poor man named Lazarus in his life. Both the ruler and the poor beggar, Lazarus,  die. The ruler goes to hell and the beggar to heaven. The ruler is in anguish and cries out to Abraham and Lazarus whom he can see in heaven. Abraham alone responds to the ruler and tells him,

But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there. (Luke 16:25-26, NLT, emphasis mine)

From this account we can inductively assume a few points:

• a great chasm separates heaven and hell
• those in heaven and hell cannot cross over the chasm
• those in hell may be allowed to see the glory they forfeited by rejecting Christ/God in this life
• in this situation (perhaps allegorical as Jesus often taught in parables) Abraham was able to hear and respond to the cries of the rich ruler as he suffered in hell

Our next text describes Saul appealing to a medium to summon the deceased spirit of the prophet Samuel. This account in 1 Samuel 28 documents a woman of Endor summoning Samuel’s spirit from the dead. When Samuel comes in spirit form, he asks Saul,

“Why have you disturbed me by calling me back?” (1 Samuel 28:15, NLT)

From this text and supporting scriptures we can inductively assume the following:

• It is possible during some situations to summon the spirits of the dead (other authors have purported this was a shock to even the witch of Endor as she was perhaps more likely prepared to see a demon than Samuel himself).
• In verse 15 we see that it is a disruption to summon those in the eternal presence of God from Heaven (Samuel was a devote follower of God who died looking forward to the Messiah).
• As a result of Saul consulting the medium and disobeying God in this way, he died (see 1 Chronicles 10:13-14).
• Consider Isaiah 18:19,  “When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”
• Also Deuteronomy 18:10, “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,”
• God makes it clear in His word that consulting mediums is wrong and against the will and commandments of our Holy Lord.

As I prepared to write on this topic both of the above accounts instantly came to mind. This topic of those who have gone on before us is a difficult one to tackle both because of the absence of explicit answers on this topic and because of the sensitivity of the subject to the grieving.

Now for my personal opinion based on all I know of the scriptures.

Personally, I do not believe that our loved ones in Heaven can see us who remain on earth for two reasons.

First because there will be no pain, death, or tears in Heaven (Revelation 21:4). If the Father allowed those in Heaven to witness even happy, celebratory moments on earth, some things within the context of such celebrations have the potential to cause grief.

Secondly, to be in the Lord’s presence is to know fullness of joy. Those in heaven are too preoccupied with worship and the overwhelming weight of glory that they perhaps either by default or design do not dwell on all that they have left behind.

This is not to imply that we cannot say with great assurance comforting words such as, “Your mom would have been so proud if she could have seen you in this moment.” We knew the deceased and their personalities well enough to predict reactions to the present.

In closing, God hears, sees, and knows outside the boundaries of time and space. The comforts of provision and joy that He affords us after the passing of a loved one are His grace revealed and His love proclaimed over you. Why wouldn’t He use the works that the departed accomplished before their death to provide direction and comfort for you in the present? Our God is mighty and awesome and He surely desires to see our hearts at peace.

Seeking comfort from the only One who has grace enough for all our pain,

The first time I attempted to read through the Bible may have been 2009. I met with success using the NIV One Year Chronological Bible. Portions were tedious, no doubt, and many times I played catchup, wondering if I would ever navigate my way through the wilderness of Old Testament genealogies. However, I persevered and because of that, encountered parts of the Bible I would have otherwise avoided or overlooked.

As 2013 dawned, I scrambled for resolutions and toyed with the idea of once again reading through the Bible in a year. I decided on a plan that started with the Old Testament and trudged forward. Admittedly, it wasn’t long before I was entirely bored with my reading plan. I rushed through it so I could check it off my list and move on to a text more interesting at the time.

Read the remainder of the post over here at iBelieve.