The heart of the term "cordial" is the word "heart." And the heart of "heart" is kardia, a Greek term that most often refers to the center of our inner life---the source or seat of all the forces and functions of our inner being. So when we are cordial, we are acting on something that comes from and affects the very center of life itself. Maybe that's why Webster defines "cordial" as "of or relating to the heart; vital, tending to revive, cheer or invigorate, heartfelt, gracious."

Being cordial literally starts from the heart, as I see it. It begins with the deep-seated belief that the other person is important, genuinely significant, deserving of my undivided attention, my unrivaled interest, if only for a few seconds. Encouraged by such a belief, I am prompted to be sensitive to that person's feelings. If he is uneasy and self-conscious, cordiality alerts me to put him at ease. lf she is shy, cordiality provides a relief. If he is bored, cordiality stimulates and invigorates him. If she is sad, cordiality brings cheer. What a needed and necessary virtue it is! How do we project cordiality? Try these four basic ingredients:

1. A warm smile. A smile needs to become a natural part of your whole person, reflecting genuine friendliness. Nothing is more magnetic or attractive than your smile, and it will communicate volumes to the other person.

2. A solid handshake. Never underestimate the value of this cordial expression, my friend. The handshake is a rare remaining species in the family of touch, and it is threatened with extinction.

3. Direct eye contact. Accompanying every handshake and conversation, no matter how brief, ought to be an eyeball-to-eyeball encounter. The eyes reflect deep feelings enclosed in the secret chamber of your soul . . . feelings that have no other means of release. Eye contact allows others to read these feelings. Cordiality cannot be expressed indirectly.

4. A word of encouragement. Keep this fresh, free from clichés, and to the point. Call the person by name and use it as you talk. Be specific and natural, and deliberately refuse to flatter the person. Let your heart be freely felt as your words flow.

"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, / So a man's counsel is sweet to his friend" (Prov. 27:9).

Spread some sweetness . . . have a heart . . . convey cordiality!

How are you doing in the cordiality department?
Try to be conscious of it this week, without being self-conscious.

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Laurence J. Peter and I are close friends. Although I've never laid eyes on him, I've smiled at his comments and nodded at his conclusions . . . amazed at his remarkable insight into my own life and those around me.

The simple answer to the riddle is this: I own a copy of his book The Peter Prescription, and you should too! It's an insignificant looking paperback filled with significant, sound principles. He says it talks about "How to Be Creative, Confident, and Competent," but I think he overlooked a better word: how to be Content.

Isn't it strange that we need a book to help us experience what ought to come naturally? No, not really. . . not when we've been programmed to compete, achieve, increase, fight, and worry our way up the so-called ladder of success (which few can even define).

Face it. You and I are afraid that if we open the door of contentment, two uninvited guests will rush in: loss of prestige and laziness. We really believe that "getting to the top" is worth any sacrifice. To proud Americans, contentment is something to be enjoyed between birth and kindergarten . . . retirement and the rest home . . . or (and this will hurt) among those who have no ambition.

Stop and think. A young man with keen mechanical skills is often counseled against being contented to "settle" for a trade right out of high school. A teacher who is competent, contented, and fulfilled in the classroom is frowned upon if she turns down an offer to become a principal. The owner of Super-Duper Hamburgers on the corner has a packed-out joint every day, but chances are selfish ambition won't let him rest until he opens ten other joints and gets rich---leaving contentment behind.

Now, listen to Jesus: "Be content with your wages" (Luke 3:14). Hear Paul: "I am well content with weaknesses," and, "If we have food and covering . . . be content!" (2 Cor. 12:10; 1 Tim. 6:8). And hear another apostle: "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have" (Heb. 13:5).

I warn you: This isn't easy to implement. You'll be outnumbered and outvoted. You'll have to fight the urge to conform. Even the greatest of all the apostles admitted, "I have learned to be content" (Phil. 4:11). It's a learning process . . . and it isn't very enjoyable marching out of step until you are convinced you're listening to the right drummer.

When you're fully convinced, however, you'll be free, indeed!

"Striving to better, oft we mar what's well" (William Shakespeare).

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

As a pastor, I often get asked questions regarding God's will. Let's consider four of the more common ones.

1. What if I know the will of God but deliberately do not do it? Unhappily, this does occur. Imperfect human beings are, at times, openly disobedient. What happens on those occasions? As in every area of life, when we don't play by the rules, we must pay the consequences. But consequences don't usually happen immediately. In fact, for a temporary period of time, things may run along smoothly. Hebrews 11:25 mentions enjoying the passing pleasures of sin. Sin offers its pleasures . . . but they are short-lived.

Remember Jonah? He bought a ticket on the ship leaving for Tarshish and was even able to fall asleep. But by and by, he found himself in a threatening storm and finally in the belly of the fish. God brings discipline upon His children. This includes external consequences as well as internal conflicts. Guilt and heartache rage within. If you question that, check out David's words in Psalm 32:3-4. After his disobedience connected with the Bathsheba affair, the man admits maximum misery within.

On top of all this, there can be public embarrassment and shame as fellow Christians in the body of Christ experience the impact of your disobedience. When necessary discipline must be administered by the church (Matthew 18:15-17), the transgression you tried to keep secret becomes public knowledge. Your family also suffers. We are not isolated individuals. Like dominoes standing on end, when one falls, others are affected.

2. Can't I rely on my feelings? This is frequently asked with regard to things we really want to do---but which lack biblical support. Take the case of a young woman madly in love with the man of her dreams. She is a Christian, but he is not. With all her heart, she believes he will someday become a Christian. How does she think marrying him is God's will? Her feelings.

But the Bible states unequivocally that to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever is NOT God's will, her feelings notwithstanding. Second Corinthians 6:14-18 and 1 Corinthians 7:39 are not eased by romantic moonlit nights. No matter how strong our feelings may be, when there are biblical precepts and/or principles that point us in a certain direction, we dare not ignore or disobey God's Word.

3. Can I be in the will of God and not know it? Yes, indeed. In fact, I'm of the opinion many Christians are! While it is true God desires us to be "filled with the knowledge of His will" (Colossians 1:9), many believers are not at that level of awareness. Furthermore, there is the weird yet popular idea that God's will is always something uncomfortable, painful, or unfulfilling. To some, it is inconceivable that God's will could be enjoyable---even delightful. Romans 12:2 states very clearly that His will is "good and acceptable and perfect." Yes, we can say and do certain things that are in harmony with God's will and yet not be aware of it.

4. What about specifics that aren't addressed in Scripture? The Bible doesn't tell the Christian specifically where to live. Or which career to pursue. Or where to go to college. If it did, how easy it would be. Yet how little faith we would need! That would reduce the Bible to a vocational guidance handbook, nothing more than a divinely inspired telephone directory . . . and just about as interesting. Our spiritual maturity would be no deeper than a third-grader's.

The emphasis in Scripture is on who a person is and what a person does rather than on where a person lives. If the Lord wants you to get a specific message and to respond in an explicit manner, He has dozens of ways to communicate that to you. No mumbo-jumbo, no skywriting, no magic tricks or middle-of-the-night voices need to be sought. Those who really want to do His will, will know it (John 7:17).

Each believer is independently accountable to God for his or her response to the Lord's specific leading, even though others don't understand or agree.

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Want to know God's will for your life? Let me ask you to stop, look, and listen. God makes His desires known to those who stop at His Word, look in with a sensitive spirit, and listen to others. When we go to His Word, we stop long enough to hear from above. When we look, we examine our surrounding circumstances in light of what He is saying to our inner spirit (perhaps you prefer to call this your conscience). And when we listen to others, we seek the counsel of wise, qualified people.

1. Stop at the Scriptures

The Bible tells us that the entrance of God's Word gives light (Psalm 119:130). That it is a lamp for our feet and a light that shines brightly on our path (Psalm 119:105). God has placed His Word in our hands and allowed it to be translated into our tongue (both were His determined will) so we could have a much more objective set of guidelines to follow than our dreams, hunches, and feelings. Sixty-six books filled with precepts and principles. And the better we know His Word, the more clearly we will know His will.

Precepts. Some of the statements that appear in the Bible are specific, black-and-white truths that take all the guesswork about God's will out of the way. Here are a few:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality. (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:15-18)

These specific things are stated to be the will of God. There are even times that suffering is directly the will of God for us.

First Corinthians 7 says a lot about remaining single as well as being committed to one's marriage. Clearly, this chapter (along with 2 Corinthians 6:14) states that a Christian is definitely not to marry a non-Christian. These are finely tuned precepts that reveal God's will.

Principles. But the Bible also has principles, general guidelines to assist us through the gray areas. Not so much "do this" and "don't do that," but an appeal to use wisdom and discretion when such are needed.

We have both precepts and principles in our traffic laws. The sign that reads "Speed Limit 35" is a precept. The one that reads "Drive Carefully" is a principle. And that principle will mean one thing on a deserted street at two o'clock in the morning, but something else entirely at three-thirty in the afternoon when children are walking home from school.

Just remember this: A primary purpose of the Word of God is to help us know the will of God. Become a careful, diligent student of Scripture. Those who are will be better equipped to understand His desires and walk in them.

2. Look Around and Within

Philippians 2:12-13 presents a good cause for our cooperating with the Lord's leading:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

These verses highlight three specifics: There's a willingness to obey. There's the need to "work out" or give ourselves to doing our part with a sensitive spirit (fear and trembling). And then there's the promise that God will "work in you" to accomplish His plan. As we remain alert to His working, paying close attention to doors He opens and closes, He directs us into His will.

Closed doors are just as much God's leading as open ones. The believer who wants to do God's will must remain sensitive and cooperative, not forcing his or her way into areas that God closes off. The Lord uses circumstances and expects us to "read" them with a sensitive, alert conscience.

We must stop and check His Word. We must look around and within. And there is one more helpful piece of advice to remember. We must . . .

3. Listen to the Counsel of Qualified People

Solomon the wise once wrote:

A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water,
But a man of understanding draws it out. (Proverbs 20:5)

Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another. . . .

As in water face reflects face,
So the heart of man reflects man.
(Proverbs 27:17, 19)

Like a quarterback, facing fourth-and-one on the thirty-yard line, who calls a time-out to consult with the coach, so must we. God uses others to help us know His desires.

God makes His will known: (1) through His Word . . . as we stop and study it, (2) through circumstances . . . as we look within and sense what He is saying, and (3) through the counsel of others . . . as we listen carefully.  

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

I confess to you, at times I've doubted God's purpose and promise. I say that to my own embarrassment. When things hadn't worked as I thought they would, when I received a no instead of a yes or a yes instead of a no as an answer to prayer, when I couldn't unravel a situation and fit it with the character of God . . . those have been times when I've said, "I know down inside this isn't right."

When the bottom drops out of your life, when hope starts to wear thin, when human logic fails to make much sense, think theologically! Read Hebrews 6:17-18. The theological facts are: (1) there is an unchangeable purpose with God, and (2) that purpose is guaranteed with an oath.

It's at this juncture I should add: Don't try to explain it all to someone else. You can't. If you could, you would be God. The only thing you can explain theologically is that the issue you struggle with is part of His unchangeable purpose, guaranteed with an oath, neither of which is a lie. That's theological thinking. As Solomon states so well: "[God] has made everything appropriate in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11a).

Let me give you a syllogism---a theological syllogism:

God is in control of the times and seasons.
Some times are hard, and some seasons are dry.

So the conclusion is:

God is in control of hard times and dry seasons.

We are quick to give God praise when the blessings flow: when the checking account is full and running over; when the job is secure, and a promotion is on the horizon; when the salary is good; when our health is fine. But we have a tough time believing when those things aren't true.

There are benefits that come from thinking theologically, as found in Hebrews 6:18:

So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

One benefit to thinking theologically is you will have "strong encouragement." Logical thinking will discourage you, but theological thinking will encourage you. And you will also have a refuge of hope. Encouragement is the opposite of discouragement. Hope is the opposite of despair. When you accept the fact that sometimes seasons are dry and times are hard and that God is in control of both, you will discover a sense of divine refuge, because the hope then is in God and not in yourself.

In those seasons when it's difficult to see God's purpose and promise, remember where your hope and encouragement are found---in the person and purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Doubts often steal into our lives like termites into a house. These termite-like thoughts eat away at our faith. Usually, we can hold up pretty well under this attack. But occasionally, when a strong gale comes along---a sudden, intense blast---we discover we cannot cope. Our house begins to lean. For some people it completely collapses. It is during these stormy times, during the dark days and nights of tragedy and calamity, that we begin to feel the destructive effects of our doubts---running like stress fractures through the structure of our lives.

For me, there are three times when the intensity of doubt reaches maximum proportions.

One such time is when things I believe should never happen, occur. There are times when my loving, gracious, merciful, kind, good, sovereign God surprises me by saying yes to something I was convinced He would say no to. When bad things happen to good people.

I once received a letter from a woman who heard a talk I had given entitled "Riding Out the Storm." Little did she know how meaningful it would be to her. Just as she was entering into the truth of that message, she arrived at home to discover that her young, recently married daughter had been brutally murdered.

Why did God say yes to that? Why did that bad thing happen to that good person? The effect of such termites within our soul is great. They eat away at us, and doubt wins a hearing.

Doubts also increase when things I believe should happen, never occur (the other side of the coin). When I expected God to say yes but He said no. Numerous parents of young men and women have said good-bye and sent their children away to war, convinced God would bring them home again. But sometimes He says no.

Joni Eareckson Tada (and a thousand like her) trust confidently for awhile that the paralysis will go away---that God will say, "Yes, I'll get you through this. I'll teach you some deep lessons, and then I will use you with full health in days to come as I heal you completely." But God ultimately says no. When we expect Him to say yes and He says no, doubts multiply.

The third situation in which doubts grow takes place when things that I believe should happen now, occur much, much later. Of all the doubts which creep into our soul perhaps few are more devastating than those that happen when we are told by God, in effect. "Wait, wait, wait, wait . . . wait . . . wait!" All of us have wrestled greatly with His timing.

These "pressure points" provide a perfect introduction to the verses in Hebrews 6. This is that great chapter that begins with a strong warning, continues with words of affirmation, and closes with words of reassurance and ringing confidence. It addresses the Christian hanging on by his fingernails as he feels himself sliding down the hill. It shouts: "Persevere! Hang tough! Be strong! Don't quit!" Even when God says no, and you expected yes. Even when He says yes, and you anticipated no. And especially when He says to wait, and you expected it now.

If you're in that painful space right now, my word for you is: persevere! Hope in God---this is not the end.  

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Human logic breaks down in crisis. The mystery is enormous, and it is the enormity of it all that calls for faith. I'm sorry if that sounds like an overused bromide. But if we could unravel it, why would we need faith? If that were true, all we'd really need is the answer in the back of the book and someone to point it out to us; we'd read it, and that's all there would be to it. But God's plan is that we walk by faith, not by sight. It is faith and patience that stretch us to the breaking point. Such things send doubt running.

When you find yourself dealing with doubt, let me give you three things to remember. First, God cannot lie. He can test, and He will. He can say no, and He sometimes will; He can say yes, and He will; He can say wait, and occasionally He will---but God cannot lie. He must keep His word. Doubt says, "You fool, you're stupid to believe in a God who puts you through this." By faith, keep remembering that God cannot lie.

Here's the second piece of advice that helps me: We will not lose. Doubt says, "You lose if you trust God through this. You lose." If I read anything in this whole section of Hebrews 6, I read that in the mysterious manner of God's own timing, for some unexplainable and yet unchangeable purpose, those of us who trust Him ultimately win---because God ultimately wins.

There's a little chorus Christians love to sing. It is quiet and tender, yet tough and true:

In His time, in His time,
He makes all things beautiful
In His time.
Lord, please show me every day,
As You're teaching me Your way,
That You do just what You say,
In Your time.¹

God cannot lie. We will not lose. Your mate has walked away from you, an unfair departure---you will not lose, child of God. Your baby has been born and for some reason, it has been chosen to be one of those special persons on this earth. You will not lose. You've waited and waited, and you were convinced things would improve, yet things have only gotten worse---keep remembering, you will not lose. God swears on it with an oath that cannot change. You will not lose.

Third---and I guess it's the best of all---is that our Lord Jesus does not leave. To quote a verse from Scripture, He "sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).

"Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever . . ." Hebrews 6:20. That means He is there at any time . . . and always.

God cannot lie. He will always keep His Word.
You cannot lose. God is trustworthy.
Our Lord Jesus does not leave. He is with you even now.

1. Diane Ball, "In His Time," © 1978 by Maranatha Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

 Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

The word picture of an anchor is used often in ancient literature, but it's used only once in the New Testament in picturing hope as an anchor for our soul. Lots of hymns and gospel songs make use of this anchor metaphor. Every one of them comes back to Hebrews 6:19: "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul . . ."

There's something beautiful in this word picture that I would have missed without the insight of one very capable scholar:

The picture is that of an ancient sailing vessel finding its way through the narrow entrance to a harbor. This was one of the trickiest maneuvers the captain of a ship had to make. As his ship moved through the opening, he had to guard against a gust of wind running it onto a reef or a sandbar. The skeleton of many a ship could be seen on the rocks, giving testimony to the fact that its captain had failed his navigation test.

To minimize the risk, the olden-day skipper would lower the ship's anchor into a smaller boat, which would then be rowed through the narrow entrance of the harbor. The anchor would then be dropped and this ship, with sails down, would be pulled past the obstacles, through the narrow opening and into the safety of the harbor.¹

The point of all of this, of course, is not anchors and skippers, ships and harbors. The point is this: That is exactly what Jesus Christ does when the bottom of life drops out. Look closely at the verse:

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil. (v. 19)

The imagery of that verse may not be clear at first glance. Let me put it in today's terms. In the days of the Tabernacle, the Hebrews gathered around it and within it as a place of worship. Within the Tabernacle were veils; behind the innermost veil was the holiest place on earth, the place we might call the "God-room." In this God-room, the light (it was actually called the shekinah) of God resided. It's my understanding that the light of God was a brilliant, blazing radiance that shone down into the God-room. Within that room was an ark, or a small chest, much lower and smaller than most pulpits. On top of that chest was a grail, with golden cherubim on either end (angel-like creatures with their wings folded in front of them). That entire piece of unique furniture was too holy for words.

Once a year, the high priest of the Israelites would enter that God-room with a small pan of blood which, precisely as God required it in the Law, he poured out on the grail (which was called the "mercy seat") there between the golden cherubim. God, witnessing the spilling of the blood and pleased with the sacrifice that had been made correctly by the priest, graciously forgave the Hebrew people for their sin. It was an annual event, the most sacred of all events. The Hebrews must have held their breath as the high priest went in with the pan, poured the blood, and came out of this room where God dwelled. The first-century Jews who read this word veil in Hebrews 6 understood all that. Look closely:

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (vv. 19-20)

In other words, our Savior has gone through life, has taken all of life's beatings and buffetings, and has gone before us. And now? Now He pulls us toward Himself! He invites His followers within the veil. He says, "Come in. Find healing for your stress fractures. Find here the rest that you need, the relief from the burdens and buffetings of doubt."

Doubt, you see, will always try to convince you, You are all alone. No one else knows. Or cares. No one else really can enter in and help you with this. In Hebrews, however, the writer says that Christ is a constant priest---not once a year, but forever. He lives in the God-room. He is there, sitting alongside the Father, representing your needs to Him. And, child of God, there is nothing so great for you to endure that He does not feel touched by it and stay by you through it.

1. Walter A. Henrichsen, After the Sacrifice (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), 83. 

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Somewhere along the many miles of southern California shoreline walked a young, 20-year-old woman with a terminal disease in her body and a revolver in her hand.

She had called me late one evening. We talked for a long time. A troubled young woman, her mind was filled with doubts. She had advanced leukemia. The doctors told her she would not live much longer. She checked herself out of a hospital because, as she put it, she "couldn't take another day of that terrible isolation."

Her husband had left her.
Her two-month-old daughter had recently died.
Her best friend had been killed in an auto accident.
Her life was broken. She'd run out of hope.

She and I spoke calmly and quietly about what was happening. I did a lot of listening. There were periods when there was silence on the phone for thirty to forty-five seconds. I didn't know where she was. I still don't know her full name. She spoke of taking her husband's revolver and going out on the beach to finish it all. She asked me a lot of questions about suicide.

In what seemed an inappropriate moment . . . I felt peace, a total absence of panic. I had no fear that she would hang up and take her life. I simply spoke very, very quietly about her future. I made no special promise that she would immediately be healed. I knew that she might not live much longer, as her doctors were talking to her in terms of a very few weeks---perhaps days. I spoke to her about Christ and the hope He could provide. After a sigh and with an ache that was obvious, she hung up.

Thirty minutes later my phone rang again. It was the same young woman. She had a friend who was a nurse, who used to come to our church. The nurse had given her a New Testament in which she had written my name and phone number and had said, "If you really are in deep need, I think he will understand." By the way, the nurse---her closest friend---was the one who had been killed in the auto accident. She had nothing to cling to from that friendship but memories and this Testament. She read from it.

I said, "What does that little Book say to you?"

"Well, I think the first part of it is biography and the last part is a group of letters that explain how to do what's in that biography." (That's a good analysis of the New Testament.)

I said, "Have you done that?" And she had called back to say, "Yes, I've done that. I decided, Chuck, that I would, without reservation, give myself to Jesus Christ. I'm still afraid; I still have doubts. I still don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, but I want you to know that I have turned my life over to Jesus, and I'm trusting Him through this. He has given me new hope . . . the one thing I really needed."

It's very possible that someone reading these words right now feels the very same way. You're thinking thoughts that you have never entertained before, and you're thinking them more often and more seriously. Without trying to use any of the clichés on you, I would say that this hope Christ can bring is the only way through. I have no answer other than Jesus Christ. I can't promise you healing, nor can I predict that your world will come back right side up. But I can promise you He will receive you as you come in faith to Him. And He will bring back the hope you need so desperately. The good news is this: That hope will not only get you through this particular trial, it will ultimately take you into God's presence when you die because you have received the gift of eternal life through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ your Lord.  

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

The same Bible that develops the subject of hell also reveals the truth about heaven. What is heaven like? Playing harps all day? Lounging around on Cloud Nine? Living in enormous mansions along solid gold streets? Does it mean we'll all have long white robes with matching sandals, glowing halos, and big flapping wings? Hardly!

Heaven is an actual place. A prepared place, designed for God's redeemed people, those who have accepted God's free gift of His Son.

"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:1-3)

According to this and other New Testament verses, heaven will be a place of beauty, peace, constant health, and happiness, filled with people from all the earthly ages who have one thing in common: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who took away the sin of the world.

In heaven we'll have a face-to-face, exclusive relationship with our Savior, gloriously enjoyed without interruption or heartache or grief or sin or the threat of death.  God promised that He would make all things new in heaven.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband . . .Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. (Revelation 21:1-2, 6)

Heaven will be the destiny of those who take God at His Word, believing in His Son, Jesus Christ, and coming, by faith, to salvation . . . without cost.

Can something this good really be free? Even free of works? You decide after reading these Scripture verses.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
(Romans 3:24)

Yes, salvation comes to us "free and clear" of any hidden charges or religious deeds or human effort. We come to God through Christ . . . lost, sinful, without hope, and deserving of hell. In grace, He sees us in Christ and in grace loves us, forgives us, accepts us into His family, and promises us an eternal home with Him in heaven, the ultimate destination of all His people.

Salvation is the single most important issue in all of life. Yet, if we are not careful, we'll put it off until later; we'll even put it completely out of our minds. Salvation is an urgent matter and is yours for the taking.

I ask you, will you do so today?  

Excerpted from Stress Fractures, copyright © 1990 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.