June is the month when grads and dads are honored.  Many graduations from high school and college are held during the month of June.  Then of course, later in the month there is Fathers' Day.

I want to focus on the word graduation. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word graduation means: the act of receiving a diploma or degree from a school, college, or university: the act of graduating.  In the natural when you graduate from something this means that you are going or moving into something else.  In order to graduate then the person must have worked toward a goal by attending classes, doing classwork and homework assignments and being tested on material in all courses and scoring an acceptable “passing grade.”

Now let’s flip from thinking in natural terms to spiritual terms.

As believers, we are striving daily to be more “Christ-like” by living and acting in ways that mirror our savior’s life.  We continue to work on this path until we die and transition into our new life with Christ.  Well then, the transition that we call death is really a type of graduation as our work has been completed and we are entering the reward phase, but instead of getting a piece of paper/degree/diploma to recognize our diligent efforts, our residence has been changed (by God) from earth to heaven.

Saints, this is not to say that if we “work,” then we can earn heaven and eternal life.  We as believers know that while faith without works is dead (James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?), we also know that only because of our acceptance of Christ as our personal savior who died on the cross at Calvary and three days later gloriously and victoriously rose from the grave, can we have eternal life (John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”).

So, take a few minutes while you are looking at the many graduation signs posted around or attending a graduation ceremony and reflect on your final spiritual graduation and God’s gift of eternal life.

Blessings.