https://odb.org/2024/01/23/scraps-to-beauty
I’m sure we have seen movies where villagers turn ploughs and pitch forks and agricultural tools into weapons to defend themselves against invading troops or robbers and plunderers. Although there have been sporadic successes, farmers usually stand no chance against well-trained and well-equiped men of war. It is worse in modern times when we need to face guns and bullets.
Micah, however, paints a different picture of a different era. He speaks of a time when people beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. See Micah 4:3. A time when weapons of war and destruction would no longer be needed. A time when everyone lives in peace and harmony, with one another and even animals.
This may sound utopian to us, but that’s the reality of what lies ahead in the future one day for believers of Christ who had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7). Those who have endured and did not have their names blotted out of the Book of Life will get to live in the new heaven and new earth with God for all eternity, as shown to John by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and described by John in Revelation 21. It is our hope of glory that drives us to live our lives in accordance with His will and to serve Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He alone is our God and Lord.
Let’s not forget to encourage each other to persevere on this walk of faith. Continue to put our trust in God in all the things that we do and serve Him in His church. Fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives. Store up our riches in heaven where moth and rust will not destroy or the thief will not steal. Prioritise our lives such that we put eternal things in the right and proper perspective. As Paul wisely taught after all he had gone through for Christ – forgetting what is behind but straining forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14)!
Ronnie's Thoughts 