Tuesday, July 16, 2013

THE BEST IS YET TO COME (Ken Ellis)

We are treated tonight to another thought provoking devotional from the keyboard of my dear friend and brother-in Christ, Ken Ellis. Thanks for all the prayers while I am in Vietnam!

Do you ever get the melody of a song in your mind and then have difficulty letting go of it?  So you think of another song to get rid of the first one, and then that song takes over.  For some reason that I can't explain, one of Frank Sinatra's songs has become embedded in my database, and I'm having a hard time making the "delete" button work.  In 1964 Frank recorded "The Best is Yet to Come."  Since some of you are post 1964, I'll share just a little bit with you.

Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum
You came along and everything started to hum
Still it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come.

The best is yet to come, and won't that be fine
You think you've seen the sun, but you ain't seen it shine.

Frank's saying no matter how good you've got it now, the best is yet to come.  We may not feel this way every day because there are some days when we think life couldn't possibly be any better.  A few events that you might include on your "It Can't Get Any Better Than This" list:

  • Your first love
  • Your wedding day
  • The birth of your children
  • The birth of grandchildren
  • Baptism of children and grandchildren
  • A promotion at work
  • Final payment on your mortgage

Despite all the joys that we experience in life, there will be times when we'll rearrange the words a little to ask, "When Will Things Get Better?"  There will be times when we will yearn for those "the best is yet to come" days. I once asked my father-in-law, who was advanced in age at the time, what he had been doing of late.  His response was "going to funerals and doctor's appointments."  No matter how good things ever are here on earth, as Christians we know the best to come awaits us in heaven.  The scriptures remind us of the frailty of life.

Job 14:1-2—“How frail is humanity! How short is life! Like a flower, we blossom for a moment and then wither. Like the shadow of a passing cloud, we quickly disappear.” (NLT)

If you're experiencing that time in life when you think "it can't get any better than this," then revel in it.  And if you're at that point when dark clouds are on the horizon, then take strength from the Apostle Paul's exhortation that truly the "best is yet to come:"

2 Cor. 5:1 - ”For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” (NLT)

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

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