final fight

* Final fight........
Matthew 10:16-23
"Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children
will
rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all
men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be
saved.
Jesus makes it very clear - the one who will be saved is not the one who is
baptized, but the one who stands firm to the end.
How we die is much more important than how we are baptized when we are
concerned with our salvation. There is no point in being baptized and then
live the way that we have always been living. Baptism marks the point when
we hand our lives over to God and live the way that he wants us to live.
Sometimes we look at other people and see how they die and we get an
insight on how we may one day face our deaths. We see people who have
lived very wonderful lives but when they approach their end, they become
terrified of death. We also see people who have lived lives of service to God
and when they approach their end, they welcome it. Though we cannot judge
a person's salvation based on how he or she lived their lives (since we never
know their when they die), it can be a good indication.
Living a good and holy life prepares us for a good and holy death. Living a life
of openness and honesty with God prepares us for meeting him with our
cards laid out; we have nothing to hide, and nothing to fear. On the other
hand, when we live a life of hide-and-seek with God, and when we approach
our death, we tend to hide away as best, though poorly, as we can. No
wonder we fear death then!
At the point of our baptism, all our previous sins were wiped away and our
spiritual state was completely clean. Each of us is therefore called to maintain
that clean slate as best as we can all the way to our dying day.
Jesus makes it very clear that it won't be easy, but he also promises us
something that the world can never give - an eternal life of happiness with
him.
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, help us to strive for holiness. Amen.
Give Thanks to the Lord for: A foretaste of heaven on earth.