Being a coffee aficionado myself I know that phrase oh too well. That famous commercial line insinuates that even to the last drop of coffee in your cup it tastes delicious.

I can sure agree with that! I saw a McDonalds commercial this week where a man is lecturing his girlfriend on how to savor the last bites of one of the fast food chains well-known burgers.

“You take smaller bites at the end so as to enjoy said sandwich to its fullest” he implies. I do that myself by the way! Coffee and hamburgers, I love em both, but life, well life is to be loved so much more. Jesus said to us, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” A great price was paid that we might have the opportunity to enjoy life to its fullest in the will of God. The psalmist said, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

I also believe that God’s plan is that we might experience that fullness until the last drop of life we posess. “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” Psalm 91 underscores.

Tomorrow I will have the distinct honor of preaching the funeral of a good friend and a wonderful Christian woman. Her name is Wilma but many will remember her, as the sweet lady who get’s excited when the choir sings songs about the goodness of the Lord.

Her hand would go up and often she would take one of those holy walks down the aisle expressing her love for the God she served. I mention Wilma not only because of her love for her church and her Lord, but something she said to me the last time Terri and I had the privilege of visiting her. When I asked her how she was doing she pointed upward and said in a weak frail voice, “I’m on the top of the world!” Wow! With a few short words spoken from her hospice bed Wilma summed up what I believe the Psalmist said in the closing words of Psalm 23, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” We love that comforting Psalm for all it says to us about what awaits us forever in God’s presence and how He promises to lead and guide us in this life but don’t miss that line, “All the days of my life”! That’s powerful.

You see, God doesn’t just walk so far with us and let us meander our way home through the valley. But He walks with us personally ALL the days of our life.

Oh, Heaven is real and will be the final destination for all those who Love and serve the Savior. But the promise we have from him is that every day, EVERY DAY he will be with us till we are called away. What a promise! What a Savior! Years ago Marvin P. Dalton wrote, “Once I was straying in sin’s dark valley, No hope within could I see; They searched through heaven and found a Savior To save a poor lost soul like me.

He left the Father, with all his riches, With calmness sweet and serene, Came down from heaven and gave his life-blood, To make the vilest sinner clean. Death’s chilly waters, I’ll soon be crossing, his hand will lead me safe o’er; I’ll join the chorus in that great city, And sing up there forever more. Oh what a Savior, O hallelujah, his heart was broken on Calvary; his hands were nail-scarred, his side was riven, he gave his life-blood for even me.” One of God’s faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior.

Despite his troubles, he said, “While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me.” In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”

Serving God doesn’t mean that things will always be easy and we will never have a care. I say that in light of what some very popular pastor’s and authors allude to.

The fact is that life is life; it rains on the just and the unjust. What gets us through is the knowledge that the Lord is with us… ALWAYS! That’s a promise, And as someone once said, “You can’t break God’s promises by leaning on them!” A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute confidence. Here are some promises for the Christian to trust. God’s presence — “I will never leave thee,” God’s protection — “I am thy shield,” God’s power — “I will strengthen thee,” God’s provision — “I will help thee,” God’s leading — “And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them”, God’s purposes — “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil”, God’s rest — “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” God’s cleansing — “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” God’s goodness — “No good thing will He withhold from them that work uprightly”, and finally, God’s faithfulness — “The Lord will not forsake his people for His great name’s sake.” So go ahead, enjoy your life in Christ…. To The Last Drop!

Tim Throckmorton is pastor of Plymouth Heights Church of the Nazarene