Four Stages of Life on This Earth

Our Voyage of Walking With God Psalm 139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. (Psalm 139:1-3) There is a voyage of life seriese done by a famous American artist Thomas Cole back in the 1800's depicting the four stages of human life. Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age, the one traveling that route, is doing so by boat on the river of life. Traveling through a wilderness. As the voyager goes on his way, the paintings show that he is accompanied by an angel. one of each of the four paintings depict the seasons of the year, conveying the story of the voyage of life here on earth. In the first picture, the one of childhood a baby floats out of a dark cave depicting birth from the mothers womb in to a bright new and exciting future in the world. The second depicts a youth, a young person now guiding the boat himself taking control of the boat, now moving towards a magnificent mansion in the sky. Then painting #3 showing an adult who is relying on prayer and religious faith which sustains him and guides him through the storms of life appearing as a very threatening existance. Then finially in the fouth picture the young infant, youth, man has grown old and the angel is guiding him across that last rivers waters to the gates of heaven, where he will spend eterenity. it is a wonderful depict=ion of a lifes voyage here on earth, but I must say, that is not the story of every person on earth, because God created us with a choice and the bible is pretty clear, that not all will choose that life and or that ending. Yes, life begins at conception, and at birth our physical earthly life begins which is a gift from God, a part of that gift is having parents who were given to guid us and train us, so that we might walk in righteousness with our God. Read - (Psalm 139:13-14)"For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God planned that our early life would be a time of learning and growing, our parents were to fullfill their God given roles of teaching us the foundational values, and truths of the bible, instilling them in our minds and in our hearts. As we come to the age of accountability we are to have a spiritual awakening realizinfg that we are individuals with an individual choice of the path we will take in life. This brings us to a place where we choose and are to make a conscious decision to follow Christ or not We will not make it to heaven because of our parents decision to teach us about God. Or because they made us go to church. But rather we are to make a personal decision to follow Christ, to be baptised and make a public profession of faith, that we have been born again and have made the choice to become a follower of Jesus. As we read the scriptures make note of hat it says in Johhn 3:3 where Jesus emphasizes the necessity of spiritual rebirth, He says, "Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." I don't know about your experience,but I found that once I reached that age of accoutability and got into my teenage years, I entered a new stage of my voyage. Yes, for me, at one time I thought once I gave my life to Christ, life would be a bed of roses, but people forgot to tell me about the thorns on the rose bushes. Yes, in this life of walking with God, there will be trials and tribulations, because the enemy the devil does not want to loose his soldiers, he fights to retain them, so the life of change is fought for with many challenges and suffering, which God uses to make us tough, (Just like the song Johnny Cash sings called "A Boy Named Sue" was given to make him tough, So God allows trials and suffering to test and strengthen our faith. (James 1:2-4) encourages us a believers to "Consider (testing and trials) as pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." As I grew in my faith, I realized, those teen years seemed to take a long, long time to reach adult hood in my walk with God. Growth and maturity for me was slow, but God never ever gave up on me, and as a believer I progressed in my spiritual life journey. My teachers and mentors called it growing into spiritual maturity and Christlikeness. Ephesians 4:15 exhorts, "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head." I was so excited when I finally started into this stage of my voyage, God was real and become more and more real as I grew. In this adult stage of my voyage, I realize the call God placed on all believers, to go into all the world and preach the gospel, I also realized this stage of life can look very, very different for every beoever, depending on the personal choices they made as they followed or did not follw God direction for them on their voyage. Because as I see it, there is a significant aspect of the journey that involves serving others and spreading the Gospel, and that is for all believers, not just a select few. As the Great Commission says in Matthew 28:19-20 which commands, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you." Then there is the final stage of life, at the end of our earthly life, I realized early on in life, that each of us needed to and would likely face physical death, and as a believer, I believe I will be transition to eternal life with God. Also I believe if I am still alive when Christ returns, that transition will take place and I would not have to experience physical death, but I will be transitioned from physical life into eternal life with out death. That would be an awesome transition. Read (1 Thessilonians 4) Here Paul reflects on this hope in 2 Timothy 4:7-8 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day." So whether we face death or not, God has prepared a place for us in heaven, where we will spend all of eternity with Him. Father God, I look forward to the day, I meet you face to face, when I am trnsitioned into eternity, you promise, I will meet you face to face and I will see as I am seen. That will be an awesome day. To God be the glory AMEN