You Can Have It All!

When I think of having it all, I can think in earthly terms or in heavenly terms. And in earthly terms, there’s the real world and the dream world. When I was young, I focused more on the dream world. I come from a nice family, and I appreciated that, but it all seemed quite mundane. When I got to be an adult, I would have wanted to be rich or famous.

I watched a TV show some years ago about people who won huge prizes in the National Lottery. It followed their progress as they decided how to spend their money. The strange thing is, very few seemed to end up happy. Only one couple in fact, and they were happy because they had a new baby.

Now, I myself would have liked to have been a rock star. I was too young to be in the Beatles, unless they would have allowed a baby into the Beatles. I don’t see why I shouldn’t have joined 😤. a lot of their songs were about babies! 😀For example:

And if babies could have been in Bobby Benson’s Baby Band, why not the Beatles? Well, maybe I wouldn’t have made the audition, but I would have liked to have been in a famous group such as Genesis, Pink Floyd, or The Stranglers. I was the right age for U2 and The Undertones, but I’m not much of a singer, guitarist, or drummer. And U2 were from Dublin and The Undertones from Derry. I was from Cork, the home of Rory Gallagher.

Maybe I could have been in Cork 1980s groups such as Microdisney or Stump if I had got the right breaks and if I wasn’t so lacking in talent 😀.

But when I read rock biographies, some of their lives are downright horrific and some are quite mundane behind the scenes. It’s the audience that feels all the magic. So many have little interest in their own albums because making them was so stressful. So I’m sort of glad that I’m not rich or famous now. I’m in reasonably good health, I have had a reasonably good working life, and unlike many pop stars, I’ve been able to spend plenty of time with my wife and kids. And I’ve been a manic street preacher, even if I wasn’t in the Manic Street Preachers 😀.

So let’s think in heavenly terms. Being with Christ and all his angels and saints forever in the New Heaven and New Earth for eternity is having it all. It’s true that it’ll be a while before I get there. Some cynics think that it’s all “pie in the sky when you die”, but for me, it’s also “pie on the ground while I’m still around.” I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my Christian life here on earth. I met my wife in the Christian Union (CU) of what is now University of Limerick. And I’ve had lots of friends and fun experiences in the evangelical scene. I spent a year with London City Mission when I was 20. And I have lovely memories of that year. And though you make some little sacrifices as a Christian, discipline helps you to avoid dangers and traps that other people fall into. Life in Christ is good.

Matthew 11:28
²⁸ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

That doesn’t mean that there won’t be trials ahead in this world, but life in this world is just a blip compared to eternity. In fact, it’s much less than a blip. Because eternity goes on for infinity, the blip gets smaller and smaller as you go forward into eternity.

Many hymns and worship songs include having it all as a theme. In most cases it means letting God have all if you. And that means that you end up having it all. But the focus is mainly on the next world, unless you’re into all the prosperity gospel stuff.

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.