Made for Eternity

Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.”

Although I’ve known him for a long time, in reading through the Gospels recently, I found myself discovering anew the Jesus who fills their pages. Over the past months I’ve watched this Man walk and talk, love, preach, heal, die for my sins, and rise again. The word that keeps coming to my mind to describe him is “beautiful”. In our culture, that word is not often used of grown men, but the Psalmist spoke of “the beauty of the LORD”, and I think it perfectly describes God Incarnate as he is revealed in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He is unlike any other man that we have known. I am awed by his wisdom, enthralled by his miracles, touched by his tenderness, amazed by his grace. He always knew what to say, what to do, and exactly when and how. He walked through this earthly life gracefully and completely unspoiled by the sinful world around him. And he did it for us. Such stunning love captures my heart.

Is he not beautiful?

Luke 7:48-50 “Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’”

Luke 8:48 “And He said to her, ‘Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.’”

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

I love the connection between faith and peace. Jesus could have told those two women in Luke, “Go in joy”, or “Go in love”, but he said, “Go in peace”. They had trusted in the correct Object, the Son of God, and this always leads to peace, first peace with God, and then the peace of God.

When I rested alone in the work of Jesus Christ, who died in my place on the cross and rose again, I was immediately accepted by God in his Son. God’s wrath no longer hangs over my head; I am his child and we are at peace. I am justified, declared righteous, in his sight.

That initial faith for my eternal salvation paves the way for the peace of God to rule in my heart moment by moment. I have a choice to trust in Jesus Christ every second of the day, to believe he is all-sufficient – to know that his grace and power are enough to handle my life. When I am trusting in an alternative object, whether it be me or some other person, there is anxiety, discontentment, and strife. When I am relying on my Savior, there is ALWAYS peace, a tranquility of heart due to confidence in the One who took care of my biggest problem – sin – on the cross, and who is capable of taking care of anything I face. That peace indeed “surpasses all understanding”, no matter what difficulties and trials are swirling around me.

“‘They shall walk, and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31 What! Must we come down and run and walk here on this stupid, prosaic earth after these eagle flights? Yes, precisely. The eagle flight is unto that. We go up there that we may serve down here, and we never can serve down here according to God’s thought of service, until we trace the spirals of the upper air and have learned to be alone in the silent spaces with God. It is only the man who comes down from interviews with God who can touch human lives with the power of God. . . What is the “walk”? It is the everyday of life. It is the getting breakfast, dressing the children, getting them off to school; it is going down and opening the store; it is going out and feeding the herds; it is going into the study and opening the Word of God. It is whatever our appointed task may be. It is doing this all day, in heat and cold, dull days and bright days — the common life. It is this, the everyday walk, that tests and tries. Far easier is it to gather one’s energies for a swift run sometimes than it is to walk. But we have to walk; we are made to walk. We live a common life, a life of everyday duty, plain, prosaic and unbeautiful. But we may ‘walk, and not faint’ . . . under the wear and petty vexations and frictions of everyday life, only on condition that we have been ‘waiting upon God.’ The man who does that will be a reservoir of sweetness, quietness and power.”-C.I. Scofield

This is quite an amazing and meaningful picture of the ordinary life we believers have on earth. Doing the laundry, filling my gas tank, telling my speech kids for the ten thousandth time that it’s a “spoon”, not a “‘poon”: when I see that these things are God’s appointed tasks for me, and I do them in a restful, glorifying-to-him way, the dullness and commonness do not make me faint. Instead, I am filled with the greatest purpose, the greatest joy. I am honoring my Father through the life he has given me.

Lately, I’ve been reading through the gospels and meditating on Jesus’ amazing life, death, and resurrection. After reading Scofield’s words above, it struck me that before our Savior began his public ministry, he led the very definition of a normal life. For his first 30 (!) years, Jesus was absolutely ordinary. He went to school as a boy, participated in family life, learned his father’s trade. Later, having grown, he got up in the morning and went to work and synagogue. He was a typical Jewish first-century man, albeit without a trace of sin.

Still, he walked. He was ordinary, a man “of no reputation” (Philippians 2:7). There is something sweet and sacred in recognizing that the King of Glory knows what it is like to lead “the common life”, and in knowing that he can give me the strength to do the mundane in a way that brings honor to him.

It’s nearly 1:00 in the morning and I’m only up because my cough/stuffy nose won’t let me sleep. Just a cold, but it’s keeping me awake at a time I’m usually dead to the world. So here I sit, sipping herbal tea with honey, reading Matthew, thinking.

There are those verses in chapter 6 again: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In other words, don’t get attached to this world and its things. As a citizen of heaven, I should not be seeking out my comfort here, but rather striving to serve my Savior. In reality, only 2 things keep me fastened to earth at this moment: gravity and the will of God. The moment he no longer has a purpose for me in being here, I will be gone. When I get too focused on the temporal at the expense of the eternal, I would do well to remember that.

Colossians 4:2 (NAS) “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”

The Greek word translated “devote” in the above verse carries the meaning of “to be steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing” and to “persevere and not to faint”, according to Strong’s Concordance.

Hmm. What things am I steadfastly attentive and give unremitting care to? Here is a partial list, in no particular order:

Sleep, eating, my friends, my Kindle, my money, the Philadelphia Phillies, Katie Morrison in general.

Notice what’s missing? I attend to and care for many things, but prayer is rarely something I persevere in. (Or keep alert in!)

But if you look down through human history at the people God has used greatly to his glory, from the apostles Paul (the one giving the command above certainly led by example) and James (aka “old camel knees” because of the time spent on them in prayer), to the more modern faithful ones like Hudson Taylor and George Mueller, they all have this in common: they were devoted to prayer. It wasn’t a “before meals” thing or a quick yawn at bedtime or upon rising. They persevered in it, constantly and consistently communicating with their God; bringing concerns and needs and praising him throughout their lives. As a result of their close, yielded relationship with the Savior, he used them to spread the gospel of grace throughout the world, as well as to encourage countless saints.

Where are those who are devoted to prayer today?

I woke up the other morning before 4 AM, suddenly remembering that my car was parked out front. Illegally parked, I should say, considering the winter overnight parking restrictions on my street. I had left the car there after work with every intention of moving it to the lot behind my building later in the evening, but completely forgot.

Upon my early early morning remembrance, I threw on some clothes, pulled on my boots, and hurried outside, hoping the parking enforcer wasn’t patrolling our neighborhood that night. But he was, and the fact that my little red car was the only vehicle on the street made for easy pickings. There, poking up out of some freshly fallen snow on my hood, was a nice little “good morning” present from the City of Milwaukee. I cleaned off enough snow to pull the car around back, then opened the citation. Twenty bucks. Could have been worse. With my car safely deposited in my assigned spot, I paid my debt to society online, crawled into bed, and eventually fell asleep again.

Later that morning after I woke up for real, I was reading Colossians 2:13, where Paul says, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” (emphasis mine).

I smiled when I read that, because the first transgression that popped into my head was my “crossing the line” the night before. Milwaukee said, “Don’t park.” I parked. I rightly deserved the ticket, however inadvertent my transgression, and I paid the price.

That somewhat goofy little lesson in justice and penalties caused the beauty of Christ’s work on my behalf to be all the more glorious in my eyes. I could never pay the infinite price for my sins, but his blood was payment enough to take care every single transgression, large and small, past, present, and future.

I am forgiven. Jesus paid it all.

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.