19 JUNE

THE POOR MAN WENT TO HEAVEN

“It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich.”

(Psalm 37:16)

Jesus told the story of a rich man and a poor man, named Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31. {This is a different Lazarus from the one Jesus raised from the dead in John11}. The rich man was unbelieving and hard while Lazarus was very poor with no food, sick with no access to healthcare. Did he go to heaven because he was poor? Not likely!

Let us imagine how the poor man’s life must have been. He apparently knew Jesus as Lord and Saviour as he was so humble that he ate crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. He rejected the temptation to steal, to kidnap this rich man for money, to go into crime with the street gangs. etc. He determined not to defile himself as a result of his pain. He bore it all in dignity, perseverance, patience and hope. Alas, one morning the dogs that used to lick his sores barked more than usual. He was dead. With no one to give him a befitting burial, he was taken as a cadaver to the University Teaching Hospital for Practical Lessons. But something more than physical eyes could see, was happening in the spirit realm. The cadaver was only his outer covering. His real spirit man was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side in heaven, in a land of joy, peace and luxury, a land of no pain, no sorrow. His sores were all healed and he was perfect. His tattered and dirty clothes were changed into glittering white heavenly clothes. He no longer desired to eat crumbs for he had heavenly food. In place of a dark corner at the rich man’s gate, he was given a beautiful home in a street made with gold with the unquenchable light of God’s presence. 

ACTION/PRAYER: May we know Christ and the power of His resurrection.