Are You Ready?

There are times we realize life is short. We recognize that middle age or old age has arrived without our permission. Or perhaps we open the Bible and are reminded that no matter our stage of life, tomorrow is not promised or guaranteed. Instead we are told that our transient existence on this earth is like a mist, a vapor, a temporary loan from God, which can be revoked at any time. And add to that God's word tells us that the entire focal point of redemptive history is the any-moment return of Christ, the establishment of his kingdom and the consummation of the ages. Today might be our last. This could be our final hour. These are more than thought-provoking slogans, these are truthful assessments of the reality in which we live. So, are you living this day with eternity in view? Is there unfinished spiritual business that needs your attention? Are you ready to meet your Savior face-to-face? Are all of your plans made in light of the fact that tomorrow we might be in the presence of our King?

Feeling It

Some rationalize their disregard for doing what is right because they say their “hearts are not in it” and they “don’t want to be hypocrites.” They may consider themselves to be off the hook in neglecting prayer, Bible study or church attendance because they don’t “feel it,” but of course they are not. God will not shrug his proverbial shoulders and say, “Well then, if you don’t feel it, don’t bother.” Instead of abandoning our Christian duties because we feel inauthentic, God calls us to adjust our attitude and mindset. The psalmist says of God, “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently” (Psalm 119:4). The Hebrew word translated “diligently” is the same word we find in Deuteronomy 6:5 where you and I are told to love the Lord “with all of our might.” It involves mental effort, gumption, determination, focus and thoughtfulness. Consider David who seems to be concerned about “going through the motions” of worship, when he turns his exhortation to his own soul and mind: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalm 103:1). The neglectful are correct when they admit inauthenticity is a problem, but their proposed remedy is ruinous. We must never walk away from the Lord’s commands when we feel weak or lethargic, instead, with the Spirit’s help, we must retool and retune our hearts to sincerely and wholeheartedly engage in keeping his precepts.

Disturbed by Sin

The society in Israel had become compromised, corrupt and forgetful of God. Ezekiel was God’s mouthpiece to point out to them just how far they had regressed into worldliness, and what the divine consequences of that regression would be. Of course not everyone in Israel had driven headlong into the same excess of sin. But many of those who resisted the overt forms of compromise were about to be evaluated on what seems to be an unconventional form of “godliness” – i.e., whether they sighed and groaned. In dramatic fashion God reveals his strategy in Ezekiel 9. He would separate those who “sighed and groaned” over the sin in their society from those who didn’t. The men and women who were internally disturbed by the moral corruption were to be spared, and those who shrugged their shoulders at it weren’t. We may not often see it this way, but when we sigh over the transgressions of our culture we are revealing the state of our heart. Realize that some don’t follow the crowd into sin because they are cowards, others because they are heartbroken over it. Some applaud the godless in our society because they are afraid not to, they fear being “out of step.” Others cross their arms and groan because their hearts are in step with the Holy Spirit. So the next time you sigh or groan over the sin in our world don’t see it as a weakness in your character, but rather as a strength and an indication of the progress of your sanctification.

Circumstances

The biblical account of the devastating turn of events in Job’s life and his subsequent restoration is a reminder to us of just how little we actually know about the various happenings that take place in our lives. We are ignorant of many of the spiritual battles and divine purposes, which affect the circumstances of our lives. We are often like Job and his friends who, without any possible way of knowing the actual realities, rush to make sense of the good or the bad things that happen to us. As Proverbs reminds us, “A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can a man understand his way?” (Proverbs 20:24) We must never forget that the all-wise God is at work in every corner of the universe and his transcendent plans always supersede our plans and usually our understanding. “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9) and “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). These realizations may make us feel much smaller than our human inclinations prefer, but they will certainly spare us the frustration and embarrassment of jumping to wildly inaccurate conclusions about the occurrences in our lives. We are also able to gain that unrivaled peace which comes from knowing that as his child “God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Worry

Jesus regularly chided his disciples for their worry and anxiety. Worldly concerns about “what bad things might happen to us” are not befitting for followers of Christ. The ultimate and eternal dangers, in our case, have been solved and settled by God’s grace and Christ’s finished work. Our relationship with him is unaffected by the hazards, risks or perils which lie around the next bend in life. After all, as Jesus often said, there is nothing that can be done about most things we tend to worry about. “And which of you by being anxious,” Christ asked, “can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?” (Luke 12:25-26). God sovereignly holds tomorrow’s pains and pleasures, failures and victories in his omnipotent hand. Of course God wants us fully engaged in life – but it’s the life right now he wants us focused on, not the potential “what ifs” that lie ahead (Matthew 6:34). So exercise your faith in a powerful God who sits enthroned over your future. Trust him, and let the hourly use of your faith drive out any anxiety concerning tomorrow.