Upgrade

If you take a brand new five terabyte hard drive and put it on a scale, it will weigh seventeen ounces.  If you then load the entire disk with all the words printed in all the books in all of recorded history, the disk will still weigh seventeen ounces. The point is that information does not have mass. It’s the same with our bodies, our earthly tents have mass but our spirit does not. We were originally designed to live forever but not in this physical universe. There is another realm, a spiritual realm where our genetic code will be reassembled. Our earthly hardware is going to eventually wear out but our eternal spiritual bodies will last forever!

Paul tackles this concept in 2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” What a great spiritual truth to understand, believe in and hold onto as God promises us a wonderful future with Him. There is a verse in the book of Hebrews 9:27 that states “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”

So what is going to happen when you die? When you stand before a holy, righteous God at the great white throne what will be your judgment, guilty or not guilty? Are you willing to chance it? All people have sinned at least once in their lives; actually we all sin multiple times throughout the day. But the fact is that when you stand before God you’re not going to measure up to His measuring stick! Human beings have fallen short of righteousness, perfection and living a sinless life.

It’s interesting that in this age of information science geneticists are discovering how very complex our DNA really is. Our DNA contains all our genetic information which is used to duplicate new cells over and over again as old ones need to be replaced. This information is stored in each cell and is all that is necessary to construct a new you! All your memories, relationships and characteristics that make you unique are already recorded and stored inside your earthly tents. So are ready for an upgrade before your hard drive crashes?

Paul goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 5:2 how our earthly bodies groan wanting to be clothed in our eternal bodies.  Paul is looking forward to being in the presence of God in his incorruptible eternal hardware but is also reminding us that this present life is not all that we were created for.  We have an opportunity while still here on earth to decide to follow Jesus, then once saved to share the good news of the gospel with others around us before returning home to the Father.

“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

I believe it’s time to become more heavenly minded so that we can do more earthly good with the time that we have been given. All the money in the world won’t buy an extra breath of life or save you from your appointed time to face judgment.  Please make a choice now to ask God to forgive you. Then start reading the bible where you will discover all that you have to look forward to. The promises of God are true and solid as the rock on which the church was  built, the rock of Jesus Christ!

The last part of this passage is really one of my favorite word pictures. 2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body,” So the Bema judgment is basically a reward ceremony for all Christians for what you did for the kingdom after receiving salvation from Christ. 

All others who did not come to Christ will stand before God at the great white throne judgment. When the books are opened their sins will be read. Without the blood of Christ to cover your sins you will be sent away from God and into hell that was prepared for the devil and his angels. Your name must be written in the book of life to escape this judgment.

So don’t wait until your hard drive starts to act up to get the upgrade, save your data, and just accept the free gift of salvation that God offers you; accept Jesus.