What if there were no afterlife?

''To have Christ in my life, to have his leading, to have his guidance, to have his blessing, to have these standards to live by and to guide my life by … I still would be a Christian for these things alone if there were no heaven.''
It has been said that the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. A story is told of an artist who sculpted a beautiful angel and wanted the master artist, Michelangelo, to inspect it and give his opinion. So Michelangelo carefully looked at the sculpture from every angle. He examined it. He thought about it for a while. Finally, the great artist said, “Well, it lacks only one thing.” Then he turned around and walked out.

That could be said of a lot of people today. They have all of their ducks in a row, so to speak. They have the house, the car, the spouse, the kids. They have the career. They have money in the bank. They have everything going the way things ought to go to supposedly be living life to its fullest. But they lack only life. It reminds us that we can get all A-pluses yet still flunk life. Henry David Thoreau spoke of men who lead lives of quiet desperation. Some people are living lives of quiet desperation, not really having what they need. They are searching, trying to find some sense of purpose or meaning in their lives. They are still lacking life.The artist didn’t know what his sculpture lacked, but he was embarrassed to go and ask Michelangelo. Finally he sent a friend over to see the artist to try and find out what the statue lacked. Michelangelo told him, “It lacks only life.”

Jesus had something to say about that. He has told us what our lives ought to be all about: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV). Here Jesus was contrasting what he offers with what “the thief,” the devil, offers. The enemy of our souls comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy. But Jesus came so that we might have life more abundantly.

We find this statement of Jesus’ within the context of John 10, where he is talking about the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Jesus is that shepherd, while we are the sheep. In fact, we share a lot of traits with these wandering, mindless animals that are constantly getting themselves into trouble. Jesus is not only our Shepherd, but he is ourGood Shepherd. The word Jesus used for good includes the meaning of morally good, but it also could be translated “beautiful,” “winsome,” “lovely,” or even “attractive.” Jesus is the beautiful, attractive, winsome Shepherd. The Shepherd’s plan for his flock – more specifically, God’s plan for you as his child – is that your life would flourish. And it is his absolute joy to bless you.

Sometimes we have a false concept of God in which we see Him up in heaven, being sort of stingy with his blessings. We think he doesn’t want to give out too many of them and that he doesn’t want to spoil us, so we must earn them by good behavior. But nothing could be further from the truth. The fact of the matter is that God wants to bless you even more than you want to be blessed. http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/i-still-would-be-a-christian/