By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
(Above video was forwarded to me by a highly respected author-writer friend. As the video solicits comments, here are mine:)
There are more fundamental, direct biblical verses that, to my mind, give better power, inspiration and encouragement to pursue life and cope with its tribulations. They hit straight the concerns of the here-and-now life. Many people, l think, are not encouraged to endure their problematic life by the mere promise of an eternally blissful life after death. What they need is a divine inspiration to enfeeble or kill their lives’ pain here on earth and that inspiration, to me, is not a promise of a beautiful, tearless life in paradise.
They need to be consoled and encouraged right here on earth at the very moments of their earthly life pain, and a precept of divine abode in the heavens preached to them in those moments may not be enough consolation or encouragement or, worse, they may not feel at all its worth as a consideration. A life in God’s paradise is so far, far removed from their here-and-now griefs that l entertain doubts if they will factor it in at all in their cry for deliverance from pain and sadness.
Familiarizing myself with biblical verses and relating them with the wordly ways of life l have amply gone through, have sustained above thoughts in my psyche. I have always believed that eternal life in paradise is an absolute incidence of diligent and continues (contrary to the doctrine of some Christian groups that once you profess your faith to the Lord you are forever saved, the so called OSAS, once saved always saved) obedience to God’s laws. But this truth of paradise after life must be preached in a manner that is timely and appropriate. And l contend it is never the foremost antidote the majority of humanity are inclined to conceive as they grapple with their emotional earthly sufferings.
It is my honest and strong conviction specific biblical verses exist that are more directly charismatic, more directly appealing and more readily resonant to the hurting hearts that opt to struggle to live on earth despite the odds. As they have chosen to love their earthly lives, they deserve the aforesaid kind of divine inspiration as a more engaging refuge, than the dangling before them a literally and figuratively faraway Paradise.
Let me endeavor to describe in brief God’s laws that have direct and practicable bearing on and overwhelming relevance to a faithful in distess seeking relief and encouragement. Commit these four God doctrines constantly to your minds and hearts.
First, nothing happens on earth without God’s will.
Life’s pain and miseries take place only because of God’s attending permissive will, to serve some good purposes at least for the God fearing. Not even the lowly and inconsequential sparrow can fall to the ground without God’s will. God is in complete, absolute control of all things and any and all life’s circumstances. (Please refer to Lamentations 3:37, Matthew 10:29, Proverbs 19:21, 20:24, 21:1, Romans 8:28, 1Peter 4:19, 1Peter 5:10,).
Second, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
Put your complete and unconditional love and trust in the Lord. No need to bother yourself with remorse, regrets, the whys and wherefores of your anxiety and pain or what fate awaits you. God cares for you always, and His deep wisdom that your own understanding cannot fathom is certainly leading you to the best there is amidst your crisis. Just “Be still,” God thunderously exhorts you. (Please refer to Proverbs 3:5, 1Peter 5:7, 1Peter 5:10, Psalms 46:1, Psalms 46:10, Isaiah 26:3).
Third, “God has made us what we are.” (Ephesians 2:10).
No person exists as an accident. God brought every human being into His total creation for a specific purpose, not just be a useless, idle occupant of a space of His entire creation. God thus cannot withhold His very care and protection that will empower us to pursue the ultimate humanity’s destiny which God had proclaimed way back from eternity—to do good works.
Fourth, pray for what you need.
While God knows what exactly you need even before you ask them (For confirmation please read Matthew 6:8), nonetheless, God unqualifiedly decrees you still need to pray for them ((For confirmation please read James 4:2).God prizes your relentless duty to pray for what you need. But there is a strong caveat: God will only hear the prayer of a clean heart (Please check 2Timothy 2:22, 1Timothy 1:5).
Let me restate my spiritual proposition: a man in life’s pain and misery is more empowered with hope, strength, endurance or moral courage to persevere in his earthly struggle if he puts in his heart and mind that God is alive and throbbing beside him which is being made strongly felt and real through His four fundamental designs above that l label, God’s Counsel (Please check Isaiah 46:10), and through which God manifests His incessant love to serve him in accordance with their message and spirit—than a sheer promise to him of the reward someday of a sorrowless life in God’s Paradise. While l absolutely profess my faith in the authenticity of a Paradise for the righteous, a man overwhelmed by earthly life tribulations may find it too dreamy to ponder as a relief in the here and now, or worse, with his spirit truly harassed or devastated, may simply be made to ignore it as a mere, pardon my terms, “pie in the sky.”
God’s four-item Counsel above, when repeatedly invoked mentally, instantly draws inner strength, hope and inspiration, but God revelation of a blissful afterlife in paradise in the third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-4, or what the above video describes as, “can’t compare to the joy that is coming”) consoles in much less measure, if at all, because it is too far removed from where the action is, as it were.
Very simply put, a man in earthly pain is not really encouraged by telling him, “Magtiis ka na lang, bumawi ka pagdating mo sa Paraiso.” (Endure your suffering now, anyway a Paradise in heaven is prepared for you.)
Lest l be misunderstood, l write all above, with absolutely no heresy intended!
