El Dorado. The fabled
City of Gold. Many an adventurer searched for the city and
if you look it up on Wikipedia you'll see that an awful lot of human misery
came as a consequence of greed when searching for riches that were believed to
be limitless.
One of the rumors was that El Dorado was in the Southwestern
US and that came to mind yesterday as we drove home from Albuquerque. We were winding through the foothills of the
San Juan mountains, pointing the sights out to my aunt, who has come for a
visit, when we came around a corner and there it was, clearly visible ahead of
us. Not El Dorado, but Dulce.
Now no one would ever confuse Dulce with El Dorado, or even
a real city of great wealth, such as Beverly Hills,
but in its own way it is golden to us.
For three years it has been our home and there is much about it that we
love. We could put roots down and stay
here for the remainder of our days, except for one matter. And that is that Dulce sits on the reservation
of the Jicarilla
Apache Nation, and our ability to live here is at the discretion of the
Nation. When our ministry here comes to
an end we will be moving on, to a destination that is unknown.
But taking an even longer view, our destination is known, and
it is to a place that would make El Dorado, if it existed, look impoverished. The
promise of God in Revelation
21 is that there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, a
place where God will live with His people.
If you have never read it, or haven’t read it for a while, take a moment
to read that chapter of the Bible and see the beautiful picture that the
Apostle John paints of eternity with God.
It's an amazing picture, isn’t it? Revelation
21 is given as a promise by God to His children, but it comes with a catch, for it only comes to those "who are written in the Lamb's book of
life."
Is your name in that book?
In Romans 10:9 Paul writes:
"If you
confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
If you believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord, rest assured
that your name is in the book. If not, the time
is now to look toward Jesus in faith, for the promises of God in Christ Jesus
are not to be compared with any of the riches of this world, and the only time
to come to faith is during this life.
The idea of El Dorado may seem appealing. For us the beauty of Dulce is real. But the eternal promises of God are without
compare. And I would love to see you
there.
Scripture quotations
are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by
Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
This is a beautiful post. Those who dial into God's frequency as a daily habit, are rewarded with insights peppered into regular life.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I was listening to the radio and a woman called in who had been diagnosed with a medical condition that is going to eventually turn her heart muscle to stone. She is 53 and 4 years after the diagnosis her breathing is growing more and more labored and she senses that she is truly dying. I listened to her as she said her greatest fear, the one that is keeping her from sleep and rest, is that she will walk into eternity and Jesus will look at her and say "Sorry, I do not know you". The radio host asked her about her life and she very much loves God and wants to honor Him. The host asked her what it took to be written in the book of life and read her the verse you quoted. I cried along with her as I rode down the highway. My tears were both for her and for the millions who live uncertain and fearful lives before the God of the universe.
Thank you again for your interesting posts