Our truck was stolen! During the night, a few yards from where we were sleeping, somebody had taken our property.
The initial reaction was, understandably, shock followed by hurried calls to the police, the employer and others. Then a feeling of being violated settled in; that was our truck. Somebody had deliberately, in a calculated manner, taken what belonged to us.
A better perspective
We were so caught up in the needs of the day that we lost our perspective. That truck was really only lent to us in the wilderness of this life. It was not of any lasting meaning or use in the real realm of things. God would provide for our temporary needs. However He might do it, He has committed Himself to give us the necessities of life and He will keep His commitments.
The temporary nature of our life is driven home if we look at the back-file of a newspaper. Take one from 100 years ago and you see ads for businesses to be sold, items that were lost, jobs to be filled. And you will read of the movements of armies and the important events of that day. The contents represent multitudes of people who were as busy then as we are now. They were full of enterprise, ideas and anxieties. But every one of them is now gone, sealed in their graves.
At that time, we were in prospect; our day had not yet come.
But now, our turn has come. Here we are going through our little span in the program of time. We are absorbed in our own interests, anxieties and pleasures. This is all very natural, but the purely natural is shortsighted and lacks wisdom. We want to live higher than just the natural man. We want to realize what is eternally real.
Just as certainly, if Christ does not come, a hundred years from now we will be dead and gone. Many of the possessions that now seem so lasting will be gone as well. We will be history; our anxieties and activities will be looked back upon by others as a fleeting part of time.
We can turn this reflection into getting our perspective right.
Things not seen yet
When we meet every Sunday morning, we recognize there is another reality beyond what we can see around us. Not only are we subject to this dying, natural world, but “there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust.” This reality is as certain as our dying nature. It is a truth confirmed by the miracles performed by Jesus and guaranteed by Christ’s resurrection. Accordingly, the fact of our mortality stands in a very different perspective than it would if we had hope in this life only.
Our lives will be looked back upon not only by others but also by ourselves, at the resurrection.
How will our lives look to us?
To make certain we will not be bitterly disappointed, we need to have two things now: a correct view and firm determination. We need to clearly see the right course and we need to have the purpose to achieve it in the face of all obstacles.
What will look good
When the time of death draws near, most people are not satisfied with the lives they have lived. Almost all of us would say we were sometimes fools. Most of us would say we would do things differently if we had it to do over again. From this, let us, the living, take warning! Now is our opportunity to lay the foundation for the answer of a good conscience toward God. Christ will not say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” to those who have not been good and faithful. True, much will be forgiven the faithful servants. But we must at least be able to say, “Lord, we have endeavored to do, and, in measure, have done, the things Thou hast commanded us to do. Where we have failed, we pray Thy mercy to forgive.”
Waiting in love
In Isaiah 64:4, we have these inspiring words, “Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the eye, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for them that waiteth for him.” The full implications are made clear when this verse is quoted by Paul. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9).
Right waiting is done in love for God. And look at what we wait for! We can hardly imagine the gladness and strength of the spirit-body or the joy of conversing with angelic society. Imagine the happiness and the honor of being confessed by Christ before the Father and the angels and assigned a place of power and glory in the kingdom of God.
These are not empty dreams but a sure and certain prospect for the faithful servants. This hope rests upon promises God has made, the truth of which has been authenticated in the glorious life, death and resurrection of Christ. Let us rejoice in the great light that has sprung up in the land of darkness and of the shadow of death. Let us open our minds to the sunshine that lies ahead. Let us not give in to the clouds that often hover over this natural life.
Our gladness needs to be tempered with the recollection that this coming goodness is not for everyone but “for him that waiteth for him.” We are to “wait,” to deny ourselves now, not laying up treasure upon earth and not seeking present pleasure in a world that denies God.
Right waiting
The waiting needs to be according to God’s will. He told Israel that He had no particular pleasure in the literal fasting that was common among them.
“Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush…wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isa. 58:5-6).
Are we waiting? Do we accept the position of strangers and pilgrims in the present evil world? Or do we do the reverse and claim its citizenship, appropriate its privileges and avail ourselves of the various pleasures it provides for its children?
Manna in the wilderness
Remember that God fed Israel with manna when he could have provided them with every form of food. He did that because He had an objective in view. “He fed thee with manna…that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3).
There is thus an objective in the self-denial we are all called upon to exercise. It is a mental object, as was true of Israel, that we might concentrate on the word of God and the promises it contains.
This self denial is only for a few brief years. It will end when its object is accomplished. In every respect, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to us. God has prepared this glory for them that wait for Him, who please Him and who love His Son’s appearing.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One