Today's Passage - Luke 17:33-37

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 17:33-37   'Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.  I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.'  'Where, Lord?' they asked.  He replied, 'Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.'   The Lord will return in a time that is totally unexpected.  In fact, the Bible says that even the Lord doesn't know when it will happen, and only Father God knows.  In other word, the Lord will come when we least expect Him to.  Therefore, the Lord is showing us a picture here; when He returns, there might be two people in the same bed, one will be lifted to heaven to be the with Lord, but the other will be left behind.  All these things will happen instantaneously.  We won't even have the opportunity to think about whether we want to be lifted or not.  The basic rule is that "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it."  If we choose our own way when we are on earth, if we follow the world and our own will, then we can take no part in the way of the Lord, and we will lose our life when the Lord returns.  If we choose to follow God's way and live our life according to God's will, others may think we have lost ourselves, but we will actually gain life.   The way of the world is self-centered, but God's way is God-centered.  When one thinks he is sitting on his own throne, he cannot be following God's will at the same time.  Many Christians, however, don't understand this truth and they think it's ok to be on both paths at the same time, claiming to love the Lord but living a self-centered life everyday.  One day, we will have to be judged by the Lord, and be responsible for how we lived our life everyday.   At the end of the passage, the Lord said "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."  It means that the Lord's judgment will be present wherever the smell of death is found.  Is your life filled with aroma of death, or is it filled with the resurrection life of the Lord?  Are you walking on the way of the world, or on God's way?     Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, I thank you because not only are you our savior, you are also the Lord who watches over us through our life.  We ask that your Spirit open our eyes, so that in every decision we made, we can walk on your way but not the way of the world.  Give us faith and hope, until we gain eternal life on your way.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!