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I Got Friends in High Places

There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles . . . but only those . . . in the Lamb's Book of Life. (Rev. 21:27)

Once I was at a conference in Washington D.C. for teenagers from around the country. I was speaking with a student who was from a small town out east. I asked him the name of his hometown, and he said "Podunk".

Webster defines Podunk as:
A small, unimportant, and isolated town"- Instantly I thought that his hometown must be so insignificant that he just always refers to it with that generic title.

"No, seriously" I said, "what's the real name of the town?"

"Like I said, Podunk".

Well I did a little research, and sure enough - he was telling the truth! In fact, there are several towns in America with that unfortunate name.

You know what would be even worse than having to tell people that you were born in Podunk? Being born and dying there. Why? Because then you would be buried at the Podunk cemetery, which is located at the end of Podunk Road in the town of Podunk...

From God's perspective, all the world's indeed a Podunk, and we are merely Podunkians. In the final analysis, your place of origin, ethnic background, social status, personal achievement, and even your church affiliation have no bearing on your status before God. Even the sum totals of all our good deeds are reeking rags to the God of the universe (Isaiah 64:6).

The one determining factor will be your trust in Christ as Savior from your sin. When you trusted Christ, your name was registered in the most important book in the universe: "the Lamb's Book of Life" (Rev. 21:27).

It's interesting to find out where a person is from. But infinitely more important is the answer to the question, "Where are you going after this life ends?"

Questions:

  1. 1) In what ways are you trying to impress God through human means?
  2. 2) When was the last time you asked someone where he or she was going after this life ends?
  3. 3) How has your perspective on significance changed since you became a Christian?