Smile! God wants you to!
Always put a smile on your face because it’s a very powerful weapon. I’m not talking about a cheesy fake one. I’m talking about a genuine smile of happiness. Instead of putting on a frown when in hard times which will only make you feel worse, turn that frown upside down.
I guarantee you if you do this, you will feel so much better. Remember God is always faithful. He will hold you up. Rejoice because all things work together for good. Uplift your life and think about all the great things God has done for you.
Pray without ceasing! Hmm! I heard that before. Give thanks in ALL things! Does that make me smile? In trial and tribulations, it is but for a short while.
Short?! “You must be crazy!”
I have heard this time and time again. We have shared, and do so continually – ‘Time’ is a creation of this world! On Neptune, Pluto, Mars…anywhere but Earth ‘Time’ is different! Length of ‘days’, ‘nights’? This World was created for life! The first Creations were living things in the waters, followed by living things on land.
Man came last. Man has a spirit within. We are all Created in God’s image. There is so much to say here in ‘life’ here on Earth as compared with existence in Heaven:
“At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in Heaven.” Matthew 22:30
Pretty “Deep”? This is a topic for another ‘share.’ To touch on this briefly:
It can be disheartening to believe that there won’t be any marriage in heaven. To imagine that was once a lifelong partner on earth will become a distant friend of the past in heaven. Married couples, as I can only imagine, would tremble at the thought of not living with their husband or wife. To not do life together anymore, to not be able to love each other the way they do now, and ultimately to lose that deep and intimate relationship that was built so strongly over the years on earth. And while some singles might sympathize of losing their future marriage partner in heaven, some singles might also fall into despair because they may not get married on earth, and now all hope in heaven is lost as well.
Most often, Christians cite Matthew 22:30 “At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Many have taken this verse to mean that there won’t be any marriage in heaven. But the bible also clearly displays that there will indeed be marriage in heaven. There will be a one, unified and single marriage between Christ and the church. This marriage will be fully celebrated and united when all God’s people are brought together at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Paul along with other pieces of scripture makes this abundantly clear.
Matthew 22:30 is a response that Jesus gave to the Sadducee who tried to trick him by telling him of a story where a woman had seven husbands whom all died. They asked him which one of the husbands would be her husband at the resurrection. Jesus answered them by saying that people will not marry or be given in marriage. But Jesus is specifically only talking about the flesh-like marriage that is known on earth. And marriage on earth, the bond that unites two humans into one, is a shadow copy of the real and perfect marriage of Christ and the Church. The greatest reason (as I see it) why the human marriage exists, is to show, reflect, and give a tiny glance of the grand and immaculate marriage that we will encounter on the New Earth with Christ. No marriage is perfect on earth, and so humans will never be able to experience the perfect love that they were created for from other humans. Even with the best of marriages, there is something more on the New Earth that will give off a love no human has ever even tapped into on Earth.
And while this truly all sounds great, many Christians still can’t shake the feeling of being sad because of the loss of an intimate relationship with another human. But who said that it will go away? The earthly marriage is a shadow copy of the real thing! Imagine the shadows of a field of flowers, or imagine the shadow of a woman. You would be able to tell that the shadows represent whatever the light is casting on. And so we would know that the flower or woman casting the shadow must be much more real and beautiful than the shadows itself. Marriage won’t become less real, less beautiful, or less intimate, but it will be fully unraveled and fully seen so that all the colors and aspects of marriage that we don’t even know about yet will come to light. We will see marriage as it is, not the shadow that we are used to. Humans won’t lose the intimacy we so desire, the intimacy we know will only be greater and deeper with Christ than it was with our spouse–whether we are directly next to his physical form, or far away, we will always feel his presence resting on us.
Anyway, we started with a ‘smile’ inducing phrase:
