“…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…”   1 Peter 1:4

I’m going to do something a little different today and go with the flip side of this verse.  (For those way younger than me, the origin of this reference is:  When I was young, we had these black disks with holes in the middle called “45 records,” and that was the media for our music.  We didn’t have MP3 players or iPods.  One side of the record was the hit song and then on the other side, “the flip side,” was another track they released from the album.)

Here’s the “flip side” of today’s verse.  We all know there is a heaven and there is a hell, and they are very real places.  In order to receive the “inheritance” that is “kept in heaven for you,” you must accept Jesus as your personal Savior.  But, as Paul Harvey says, let’s talk about “the rest of the story.”

If your only motivation for receiving Christ into your life is to escape hell, you are missing out big time.  And, of course, that also begs the question, if that’s your only motivation, have you really accepted Him at all??

There is a song I remember somewhere back in recesses of my brain from the late 70s or early 80s called “If Heaven Never Was Promised to Me.”   Reflect on that a little bit.  It starts out:  “You may ask me why I serve the Lord.  Is it just for heaven’s gain?”   Then it goes on to talk about how there’s more to it than just heaven and what a personal relationship with Christ means in your life.

Now I’m moving away from song lyrics and into Amy’s thoughts.  There is no true peace without Christ.  There is no true joy without Christ.  There is no true love without Christ.

Peace.  Turmoil at home; turmoil at work.  Seems to be how we live our lives these days.   Sometimes we are so accustomed to the discord we forget we don’t have to live like that.  Or there’s something looming overhead in your life, a personal situation or health situation, and it eats away at you and you just can’t resolve it unto yourself, and it’s bothering you so much that you keep ruminating over it.  Yes, you can go in your bedroom and shut the door and put on a set of headphones and tune it all out for a few minutes to get “some peace.”  But that’s temporary.  True and lasting peace comes from our Heavenly Father.  The peace comes from turning it all over to Him.   Turn it over and He will turn it around and you will find the peace you’ve been searching for.

Joy.  You may say, oh, but “I have so much fun with my friends” or “my family brings me so much happiness.”  Yes, friends and family can bring you joy.  But true joy and happiness come from a relationship with Christ.  The other things are temporary, and they are also short lived.  A night out with your friends is a fun time, but eventually it’s over and you have to go home and get up for work or school the next morning.  Joy in Christ and with Christ never ends.  It’s the party that keeps on going 24/7.

Love.  True love between two human beings is deep, strong, abiding and long-lasting only when they both have a relationship with Christ and put Him at the center.  It took me many years to finally get to the point where I actually understand this.  Can you love someone absent Christ in your life?  I think so.  But I do not believe that you can truly experience or even comprehend the depths of real love for and from someone without Christ in your life.  His abiding love in you gives you the capability to love someone else with all your heart and soul.

So to quote the song I spoke about:  “If Heaven never was promised to me…. it’s been worth just having the Lord in my life.”  Amen.  Where in the world would I be without Him?  I say “the flip side” of this record is just as good as the originally-released hit!