Wisdom from the field

Jerod Harper was a student in our college group in Oklahoma. He is currently serving overseas in a country in Asia. He has some amazing insights, and I wanted you to get to hear his heart.

"For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake"--Philippians 1:29

Suffering comes in many forms and from all sides. At the moment I live in a relatively open country as a student here. Studying so that someday I may return to working in a different country. I am not in constant fear of what may come of me like many of my brothers and sisters in other countries.

My suffering comes not at the hand of man but is an emotional struggle. You see, I have family in the States. Family I love and miss greatly. Not to mention all the friends. That at first may not seem to be that great of suffering and truly I would never compare it to that of those who are giving their lives for the sake of the gospel.

But what you must remember is that when my family members had birthdays I woke up and will wake up thousands of miles away. When my good friends get married I wake up thousands of miles away. When my sister had her first child I woke up thousands of miles away. When my grandfather died I woke up thousands of miles away. For all the major events that happen in the lives of your family members and friends you are not present. Births, weddings, funerals, graduations, etc. and you experience it all through photos and phone calls.

But would I ever want it to be different? Never, not for a second. I realized some time back that this world is not where I live. Too many people think that this is where we live and heaven is where we go to live. But that is just the opposite. May I plead with you to live for heaven.

C.S. Lewis stated it like this, "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought the most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one. Aim at heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in.' Aim at earth and you will get neither."

More importantly than C.S. Lewis is what God himself said. These are just a few:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."--Matthew 6:19-21

"For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."--Hebrews 11:14-16

"Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets."--Luke 6:22-23

Live for heaven. It is well worth it. Will it cost you? Yes. But rejoice when you suffer for his sake, for your reward is great! Let me leave you with two quotes:

"While vast continents are shrouded in darkness...the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field."--Ion Keith-Falconer

"As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever having a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of the darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem, may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost--and our responsibility."--Nate Saint (He wrote this twenty one days before he died attempting to fulfill that responsibility).

Pray for Jerod. You can read more from him at Tales of the Road.