War Cry - January, 2016 Page 16

The War Cry | JANUARY 2016

earth and eternal life.

But there is something wrong with the equa-

tion. He believes his generosity to the poor, his
general truthfulness, his regular attendance at
church and his equal-opportunity view of his
fellow men are the right choices that will bring
happiness now and a place in Heaven when he
dies. But Solomon's conclusion is that all of this
good activity leads to death.

The missing ingredient for this man is recog-

nition that "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23) and
need a Savior. That Savior is Jesus Christ, of
whom it is written in Acts 4:12, "There is salva-
tion in no one else! God has given no other name
under Heaven by which we must be saved."

The truth is that we are not saved because

we're good; rather, we're good because we're
saved.

VALUE OF LIFE.

There's nothing more valuable

to a human than his or her life. Americans spend
billions of dollars every year on medical care in
order to extend our lifespans. Yet in John 12:25
(CEV), Jesus says, "If you love your life, you will
lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be
given eternal life."

The Master goes on to explain His statement:

"Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and
dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies,
it produces many seeds" (John 12:24, NIV).

Mother Teresa is perhaps the most well-known

example of a "lost life" bearing fruit. And Salva-
tion Army literature is replete with stories of
officers and soldiers who died to self and thus
reaped rich rewards for the Kingdom--some
tenfold, some a hundredfold.

REALITY.

If the topsy-turviness of the world

is evident in such things as power, economics,
ethics and the value of life, it is even more so
in the realm of reality itself.

The Apostle Paul makes an astounding

statement in his second letter to the Corinthians.
In 2 Corinthians 4:18 he writes, "So we fix our
eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal" (NIV).

We are used to trusting in things we can

see and touch. We sit in a chair because, from
sight and feel, we know that it will support us.
We look at the ocean, and we assume that it will
always be there. We stand in awe of towering
mountains and sense that nothing could ever
destroy them. We view ancient buildings hun-
dreds of years old and never consider that one
day they will collapse.

But Paul tells us that, because we can see

them, they are temporary. It is the unseen--
faith, trust, love and the Almighty Himself--
that are real and that will last for eternity.

The Apostle Peter reveals that, at the end

times, "the heavens will disappear with a roar;
the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the
earth and everything in it will be laid bare"
(2 Peter 3:10, NIV). But the permanent things,
the unseen things, will remain.

Within a few years of the crucifixion and

resurrection of Jesus, Paul and Silas set out as
evangelists. In Thessalonica, things go well for
three weeks. Then a group of envious men and
their followers go to the city authorities com-
plaining that the Christians have "turned the
world upside down" (Acts 17:6, KJV) and now
are disrupting the peace of their city.

It was true: Christians did turn the world

upside down in the first century. Thank God the
situation has not changed. God's people today
live with a different reality than the world. We
have discovered that God's way, though it may
seem contrary to human reason, is always best.

Commissioner Robert A. Thomson, a retired
Salvation Army officer and former editor�in�chief,
lives in Clearwater, FL.

THE EVERYMAN DESCRIBED BY

SOLOMON IS A REASONABLE

INDIVIDUAL WHO MAKES SANE CHOICES

THAT WILL LEAD TO HAPPINESS ON

EARTH AND ETERNAL LIFE.

BUT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG

WITH THE EQUATION.

10-12_UpsideDown_WCJan16_Werk4.indd 3

12/4/15 3:57 PM