Made for Eternity

Actually, he cares about me. I always have known that’s true, but sometimes I see it in crystal clarity.

A few days back, it was an early morning after a long day and too short of a night. I was getting ready to head out to work, and despite my cup of Starbucks Via, my mind was still a little fuzzy around the edges. I had told myself earlier not to forget something, but there I was standing next to the kitchen table unable to remember that last crucial detail before hitting the road.

Having been contemplating  the area of prayer in my life, I suddenly realized that I could take this little detail to my Father, and ask him to help me remember. ”Lord, what was it I wanted to bring with me?”

Yeah, the title up there gave it away. Popcorn. I wanted to take a bag for an afternoon snack.

Popcorn, of all things. And he answered me by bringing it to my mind as soon as I asked him. There I was, with the sovereign God of all the vast universe, discussing popcorn.

In the grand scheme of eternity, does my popcorn matter? Maybe not. But in that moment, I delighted in him who delights in every detail of my life, amazed again at his infinite love. And in the grand scheme, that matters.

Today I read an exposition of Psalm 77, one of those great psalms that begins with a view of life from a discouraging human perspective and moves to an uplifting divine perspective. Asaph opens the poem in mental anguish. We don’t know the situation, but his agony culminates with questioning God’s mercy and grace in verses 8-9. This man only sees his circumstances and is disappointed with God.

A shift occurs in verse 10 and 11, when the psalmist determines to pull his focus from his wretched lot and put his thoughts on his great (v.12-13), powerful (v.14-19), yet tender and gentle (v.20) God.

It’s an amazing transition, and a good lesson about having a correct viewpoint. Asaph’s circumstances did not change in the psalm, but his attitude sure did, because he changed what he was fixed upon.

Have you ever seen a baby with a ceiling fan? Some kids are fascinated by the spinning machines. When their eyes are fixed upon the fan, nothing else exists in their world besides those whirring blades. You can be cooing and waving your arms, even yelling their name, but it makes no difference. The ceiling fan is where it is at for them.

So it is with us believers. Our minds can either be obsessed with our trials, as Asaph’s was in the miserable first half of Psalm 77, or we can fix our eyes on our mighty Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

When our heart’s gaze is consumed with the correct Object, and we bring all our difficulties immediately to him to care for as he sees fit, our mental restlessness will disappear, being replaced by the peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7)

What or Who is your mind fixed on today?

I’ve begun reading Christopher Hitchen’s memoir, Hitch-22. I recently saw an interesting review in a magazine, and I thought I’d give the book a try. I used to be afraid to read authors with whom I disagreed, as if their words would somehow seep into my mind and I would believe as they did. Now I just know to read discerningly. Having made it only a tenth of the way through, I don’t know if I can recommend the book, but I will say that I am enjoying the style of writing thus far, if not always the subject matter.

The preface, written last January, deals much with the author’s imminent death. (He died of cancer in December.) While reading his attempts to grapple with the subject, I was saddened to the point of tears at the loss of this man’s soul. He is brave on paper, clinging tightly to his atheism at one point, and at another stating, “I personally want to ‘do’ death in the active and not the passive, and to be there to look it in the eye and be doing something when it comes for me.”

Those words would sound so noble, almost triumphant, if it weren’t for the fact that Mr. Hitchens rejected with a stiffarm ’til his dying breath the only One who has defeated the grave. Death has thus conquered this man whose eloquent words I read. We weak humans will always lose our last battle, unless we trust in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, who “lives that death may die”.

Oddly enough, for all his erroneous bravado in the above preface quote, several pages later, the author manages to hit the nail on the head when he addresses life in our present state: “…imagine how nauseating life would become, and how swiftly at that, if we were told that there would be no end to it.” I wrote down a note, “Ah, but only if it is this cursed life, and not the next infinitely blessed one.”  If I had to live forever in this body with my sin nature clinging to me, I would despair.

To know this life is not forever is a blessing, but only if one knows what, or put better, Who, is on the other side of that chasm called Death. I can’t face dying bravely because I have confidence in me and some hopeful last words about confronting the inevitable. I can face dying bravely because waiting on the other side is my Father, his beloved Son, and that incomprehensibly beautiful eternal life bought for me on the cross nearly 2000 years ago.

Just got back from an hour long walk. Outside. Without a coat. In Wisconsin. In the middle of January. Hey, it’s 54 degrees, and I’m going to take advantage of that warm sun on my face. Apologies to the skiers, snowboarders, and those who like to skid and slide on slick streets (you know who you are); this “sprinter” (yes, I did combine the words “spring” and “winter”) has been lovely in my opinion. Tomorrow, the weather will finally realize what season it is, and it appears the Lord will be sending several inches of white stuff. Today is the last of the calm before the storm.

I’ve been thinking a lot about storms lately, especially since I read this quote by Warren Wiersbe: “While there is tumult on earth, there is tranquility in heaven.” God, while being intimately involved in all the details of every person’s life,  is not worried about the events of this earth. He is in utter and complete control; the outcome of each storm, whether real or figurative, is already known. His plans and purposes will prevail. Thus, perfect peace exists in heaven.

As one who has believed in Jesus Christ and his work for me on the cross, I am now a child of God. My position as his child is “seated . . .  in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6) That’s my real place – the most tranquil, restful place imaginable. While I live as an alien and stranger on earth, storms overtake me frequently. Little storms of annoyance and frustration and disappointment. Large storms of sorrow and tragedy and faith-shaking questions.

I must “abide above” in that place of peace by looking to my Savior in each trial. A friend of Hudson Taylor  paraphrased that man of faith by saying , “Look up! See the Man in the glory. Let the face of Jesus shine upon you . . . is he worried or distressed? There is no care on his brow, no least shade of anxiety. Yet the affairs are his as much as yours.”

Hallelujah! I am Jesus’ and he is mine. If he is not worried about the storms of my life, how can I be?

I like to play Words With Friends. For the uninitiated, it’s an interactive online Scrabble knockoff that can be played on any number of devices, from computers to phones. What I like, and hate, about the phone version in particular, is the ability to zoom in on a certain section of the board as the player attempts to put up a (potentially) high scoring word. Actually, the zoom is automatic as soon as you begin placing letters.

This is great – I get to see a little piece of Words With Friends real estate up close and personal. And yet, I am sometimes so zoned into that small area, I don’t pay attention to the rest of the board. I excitedly play my 23 point word, only to zoom out and see I’ve perfectly set up my opponent for a triple word score. He or she then predictably drops “quiz” for 350 points. Okay, perhaps that triple word total is a slight exaggeration, but aaargh. I should have gotten the big picture! 

Hmmm. Guess Words With Friends isn’t the only area of my life in which I get myopic (near-sighted). All I see are the grains of sand and miss the glorious shore.When I focus on me, my agenda, my details, I too frequently forget Him.

Thinking on details is necessary, and any small thing can and should be done in a God-honoring way. I spell check my blog entries, I brush my teeth, I play football with friends on a “warm” January afternoon, I file my tax returns. But these things should not keep me from zooming back out, and in all the details put together, seeing Jesus Christ, the One who is my life itself (Colossians 3:4).

God is with us.”  John Wesley’s last earthly words ring joyfully in my heart today. Though I cannot see, touch, or hear Him, and am often distracted by things and activities that fill my physical senses, His presence with me is the most real reality, the truest truth. 

The one true God, my Creator and my Savior, dwells within me. Always. I agree, Mr. Wesley; in this changeful, lonely world, that IS the best of all.

Matthew 28:20b “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Here in my little place in Milwaukee, the first day of ’12 is coming to a close. It’s quiet – well, as quiet as life on a busyish city street can be. Besides the wind blowing and the trucks clattering past, the only noise I hear is the sound of my earthly life ticking away. Actually, it’s the raucous second hand on the kitchen clock, but on the day of the year we consider time the most, the steady click-click-click seems to hold more meaning.

Not-much-time.

Use-it-well.

The clock hands’ relentless march makes me think less of seconds, minutes, and hours, and more about the point where these measures cease to matter.

On the first day of the new year, eternity sneaks, no, saunters into my mind and won’t go away. Even if I live another 60 years, what is that in the scheme of forever? Not. a. thing. And yet it is everything, for the decisions I make now have consequences that stretch into the agelessness to come. That’s a mind bender.

In the end, these are my only two choices:

A. Dismiss forever and exist as if  my time on this dying planet is all there is.

B. Live the brief moments I have left in light of eternity by bringing glory to the Savior with whom I will spend it.

Huh. Sometimes simplicity is really good.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ”  . . .whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

The Accuser and the Advocate

I John 2:1

The Accuser of the Brethren looks on with evil glee

As I willfully, pridefully run to shameful misery

He leaps before the Righteous Judge and His only Son

A finger pointed at my sin: “I demand death for what she’s done!

She’s missed the mark and you who claim that you can never lie

Have stated in your Word, ‘the soul that sins must surely die’.

You have a duty to require payment for this wrongful deed.

Just look at her, she’s stained with guilt – all the evidence we need.”

Then the Son comes to his feet and stretches out his hands.

“My Father, the Accuser is correct, she’s broken your commands.

But look, I bear eternal scars from when I took her place

And died not only for her soul, but all the human race.

I paid the price of every sin, and since she trusted me

She’s clothed in my own righteousness, and forever will go free.”

I see the scars, the eyes of love, the Man who bore my guilt

And look upon my pure white robe, cleansed with the blood he spilt

My stain of guilt is wholly gone, the Accuser slinks away

I’m enfolded in my Savior’s arms, eternally to stay.

. . . and the living is easy.  . .” My dad used to sing that old Gershwin tune to us in a deep voice on hot sticky 1980s evenings in eastern Pennsylvania. I have the song on my iPod now, and whenever I hear it, I remember and smile. Even as an adult, there is something idyllic and relaxed about this time. I still go and play outside at night with my friends on occasion, fireflies and long summer sunsets lighting the way. Of course, I am blessed to have a job in which I’m off for several weeks during June and July, mimicking my childhood breaks,  but even during years when I worked the whole way through, summer still had that sense of “slow-n-easy”.

The Lord was so wise in his creation of seasons. Grateful as I am to have lived in Africa with it’s less dramatic season shifts, I relish living through winter, spring, summer, and fall in Wisconsin. To be sure, I tend to get cranky when the thermometer does its violent swings below zero and above ninety, and I’m not particularly a fan of driving in ice and snow, but there is much delight to be gained in the whiteness of winter, the new green and blooms of spring, the heat and sun and long days of summer, and the brilliant crispness of fall.

God was so wise and generous in giving us the seasons and rhythms of life.

Genesis 8:22 “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Day 40

What? The above is one of the anagrams of my name (an anagram is a phrase made by rearranging the letters another phrase or word).

Courtesy of my brother Pete (aka Printer Morose), here’s the website where you can generate your very own anagrams:

http://wordsmith.org/anagram/

Thank you for your support of Made for Eternity (aka Forearmed Entity). Isn’t language FUN??

Day 38

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

When I read that verse, I think tragedy. I think catastrophe. I think illness and death and pain. But what about sin? What about when we ignore the Spirit and do the wrong thing? What about when we step so far outside of God’s will that we end up in a mess of a situation that is all bad, humanly speaking? Can he work that together for our ultimate good?

Yes. Really. He never condones our sin, and there are always consequences, but he takes our bad choices and our “missings-of-the-mark” and graciously uses them for our good. They are part of all things.

He is so much bigger, his plan his so much greater, and his grace is so much stronger than anything we fumbling, stumbling sinners can do.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Day 36

I really really like hearing kids sing. “The Wheels on the Bus”, “Down by the Bay”, “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” – it’s all good.

Today while practicing for the Christmas program, the small Sunday School singers were incredibly enthusiastic, and it’s encouraging to hear them belting our the truth:

“Salvation! Salvation! The gift of life is free, for Jesus died for sinners, even you and me.”

Beats those other kids’ songs in every way.

Day 35

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

He wasn’t – isn’t – a robot. “His heart is touched with my grief”, as the old hymn says. To know he knows, feels, and cares – that in itself is a comfort.

Day 34

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Imagine living for over 30 years and never giving in to a single temptation to sin. Having been a lifelong transgressor with innumerable givings-in, I can’t fathom it.

This Jesus is truly amazing, to make a dramatic understatement.

Day 33

Consider this:

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Who among us would even think for a second about becoming a virus to save viruses? I know the analogy isn’t perfect, but the fact that the eternal Son of God became one of us, and actually lived with thoroughly sinful us for 33 years is stunningly unimaginable to our brains.

Only the mind of a infinitely loving God could come up with a plan like that.

Day 32

Ah, it’s evening, and I’m all showered and clean and cozy in my bed while something wintry is going on outside. Snow, sleet, rain. Here comes ol’ man winter.

Today was a Doing Good Things Day. I went to work. I talked to my kids (or made them talk). I went to a meeting. I discussed cases with my colleagues. I did paper work. I gave and got a few hugs. I read the news. I checked my email. I checked the weather. I read a few verses, did a little studying of the Bible. I prayed.

Still in spite of all the Good Things I considered today, I didn’t consider him. Not really. He crossed my mind several times. I even talked to him. But I haven’t yet stopped to meditate on my Savior.

Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have another consideration at this time.

Day 31

A little Pearls Before Swine always keeps me from taking myself too seriously.



Day 30

that Jesus died, and that he died for me.”

I don’t need to add anything to that in order to be saved eternally. I can’t add anything.

I never have to worry about coming to God with my arms full of (useless) good works, asking breathlessly, “Is this enough?” because what I do will never be enough.

What Jesus did is, and I have simply rested my faith in him.

Day 29

To be called “beloved” is a precious thing. To be called “beloved” by God is indescribable. Believers are said to be accepted in the Beloved,  referring to Jesus. The fact that God’s Word uses the same term for us sinners that he does his Son is just jaw-droppingly amazing.

That’s why I love that verse from Psalm 127 so much.

He gives his beloved sleep.

When I read that verse, I think of a daddy holding his toddler gently in his arms, rocking her, singing to her, watching her eyelids droop. God could have said, “He gives his people sleep”, but the fact that he chose to call us “beloved” there demonstrates a tenderness and a gentleness that the giver of this particular gift has for us, his little ones.

His beloved.

Day 28

I like this verse a lot:

Psalm 127:2 Tis in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

There’s a lot I like in there, but I’ll save that for another day . . . right now I’m going to sleep.