Finishing Well

The problem with getting to be my age, is you've seen pretty much everything. Old age often attracts cynical fatigue...hope deferred and all that. As a life-long melancholy, I grow tired and a bit boneless. Tired of myself and my issues, tired of others and their issues; tired of the church and its never-ending, ridiculous, often unnecessary issues. About the time I find something to lean on, it crumbles to dust. I'm old and starting to fall apart. For me at least, it's easy to shrink back into a 'I'm-waiting-for-God, get-off-my-lawn" kind of attitude. 

But when I do, I am thankfull that God always has the last word. Again and again, His great kindness has been to point out when I start focusing on the wrong things...the things which are passing away. Doesn't mean the issues aren't real, or big, or horrible. But focusing on them means I am less and less likely to finish at all, let alone finish well. 

So when my troubles loom large and I am tempted to focus soley on me and mine, the Holy Spirit has been reminding me what I signed up for and urging me to gaze at that. Disciples have a goal, a prize, a very great reward. The Holy Spirit is nudging me to keep my eyes trained on the far horizon, where our glorious Jesus waits to return. If I keep thinking on that, I will have peace. If I remember what our King brings when He returns, my sense of justice will be satisfied. If I think on the World to Come; evil expelled, all things made right, and being with God and His people forever, I experience joy. In this way, no matter my current circumstances, my perspective is focused and expectant on a very positive outcome. My troubles become smaller and my hope much bigger...set in a vast, glorious kingdom in which I have a place prepared for me. I can keep moving forward, because my eyes of faith can see where I'm going. 

At the end of this age, God extends an invitation to a great Sabbath meal...all of us sitting at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the apostles, and great saints who've gone before us; Jesus blessing the wine and breaking the bread; all of us laughing and eating and swapping stories of back in the day when we thought the Wedding Supper would never come. But it will. And all the sorrow and fatigue of this present age will seem insignificant in comparison to the joy and the glory we will know. 

Whether Jesus returns soon or late, we who are older are in the foyer of the World to Come. So our Master is urging us to finish well; to gather our strength; to keep moving; because we are not done. The only way we fail is if we give up. He will do the work, our part is to choose to continue. This means that when our baggage gets heavy, we do not sit down and rearrange the contents so we can fit more stuff in there. We can't carry all that and do the will of God too. If we hand it to Him, then we are free to do as He asks, when He asks. 

We may be slower than we once were, but He promised we would end well if we lean on Him. He has promised that we would finish--even with health issues; encroaching cynicism; despair over the broken world and unsaved family; even dying in the promise. If we keep our eyes fixed on Yeshua, He will carry us right to the end. 

I believe He is asking once again, “Do you trust that I am enough? Do you still choose to continue? Whom do you say I am?” We answer with trembling breath, "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God." We worship and submit to your perfect plan. Maranatha!