Paradise

It’s a small town, 2000 Census showed a population of 459. We know it was higher in 2010, but I can’t find that information online.  We don’t live in the city.  We’re just within the mailing addresses for the Paradise Post Office.  It would be regrettable to lose this Post Office – who really wants their address to be less than Paradise?

We don’t, really, live in a paradise, no matter how much we enjoy the area.  Not the paradise Christ spoke from the cross:

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:42-43 KJV)

John records another mention:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7 KJV)

That’s the true paradise we hope to receive.  It’s the one our faith leads us toward.  Just as the thief, we hope that it is for us to be with Him in paradise.

Faith is the base we build on:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)

That chapter has so much information on faith, how it was lived, who had it, and why.  Verses 4, 5 and 7 begin with “By faith,” while verse 6 has a warning:

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 KJV)

That ties in with another book, another verse:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8 KJV)

I recently read someone’s sarcastic, derogatory belief about Christ – that since God’s Son died for everyone, that everyone was saved. I have not found that in the Bible. As with every promotion I’ve ever heard of, there are qualifications.  The very least of which would be:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV)

If a man cannot walk humbly with God while keeping His commandments, where is his faith, his hope, his reward?