Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

The Best is Yet to Come

Have you ever noticed that everyone wants to live long, but no one wants to grow old? It’s true. If you want proof, just consider the five B’s of middle age: baldness, bifocals, bridges, bulges, and bunions. Nothing works right. Our bodies slow down, decay, sag, groan, and wear out. We may brag about our strength but a tiny microbe can kill us. As we grow old our bodies begin to break down. Eventually, they stop working altogether. No amount of Vitamin C or fish oil can change that fact. At best, we can only slow down the aging process—we cannot delay it forever.

If you are like me, you probably have one part of your body (or maybe several parts) that you would like to change. Maybe it’s your weight, your height, your hair, or something about your face. To make it worse, our culture bombards us daily with images of beautiful, well-built people. But in heaven, there will be no fad diets, no Weight Watchers, no aerobics, no exercise bikes, no personal trainers, no physical therapists, no stair masters, no weight rooms, no saunas, no jogging tracks, no low-fat foods, no diet drinks, and no plastic surgeons. (Lest I unnecessarily offend some fine Christian people, I do want to make it clear that there will be personal trainers, physical therapists, and physicians of all sorts in heaven. It’s just that there will not be a need for their particular skills in heaven). God will give every one of His children a glorious, unique, diverse, perfect new body at the resurrection that will never fail or disappoint them. So, as you grow older and your strength fades, don’t be discouraged thinking your best years are behind you. The best is yet to come.

A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and asked him to come to her house to discuss some of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral service, what Scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. She requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. As the pastor prepared to leave, the woman suddenly remembered something else. “There’s one more thing,” she said excitedly. “What’s that?” said the pastor. “This is important,” the woman said. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”

The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. The woman explained. “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.’ It was my favorite part of the meal because I knew something better was coming like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. So, when people see me in that casket with a fork in my hand and they ask, ‘What’s with the fork?’ I want you to tell them, ‘The best is yet to come!’”