So there's a verse that has rattled around in my mind this past week. God brought me to a section in the book of Isaiah and sat me down there for the week. The verse is simply this:
Those who walk uprightly, enter into peace;they find rest as they walk into death. -Isaiah 57:2It's simplicity caught me offguard. I think I read it 3 or 4 times before my mind truly began to sink it in. It is, I believe, a summary of life. That is to say, God is saying, those that live as I intstruct them, this is their experience.
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace;No, it's not a jab at our evolutionary step above the chimps, two legs does not mean you walk uprightly. It sums up those who do life the right way, those who live according to the standard that God gave us through the life we recieved from His Son. It speaks to a perpetual trajectory of our live's path towards God. It's God proclaiming, I have something special for those that follow me all their days. My mind drifts to the life of Orlando Tesch. Orlando is a man that I grew up around in my younger days. He is now probably in his 80s. But he was a picture of what it means to be a man after God's own heart. He lived his life, and continues to live his life as a picture of what it means to follow after God's heart. My mind drifts to the life of Ted Salonek. Ted is a farmer in my hometown. He is a passionate, committed man in everything he does. He has a very calming sense about him, yet there is no messing around with Ted. In high school several of us had the opportunity to sit under him and learn from his wisdom. He is a picture of a man that walks upright, following hard after the LORD. These are simply two of many examples that I have had of lives that are lived uprightly. Sat up against mine, I wonder if I am living uprightly, if I am living up to the standard that God has called me to live. It spurs in me a desire to discipline, a desire to consecrate myself unto the LORD, to commit myself once again to follow after Him. I am a passionate individual, yet passion without perserverance is nothing more than a lit fuse with no dynamite, there is a lot of fizzle in anticipation, but there's no bang.
It is a life lived in that manner that can rest in the peace of God. It is those that are committed to following after Christ, that find the peace of Christ. It is those individuals, who recognize who they are, or rather whose they are, that are unshaken by the turmoil of life. Now, mind you, it doesn't say that those who live uprightly will never experience life's turmoil. It says that those who live uprightly will enter into peace. It is peace that the Spirit brings to those that are committed to following after Him. It is not an easy life that one is given, but the peace of God in order to stand firm when the world seems to be turned upside down on top of you. That is the calm spirit I desire. A spirit that is able to rest in His peace in the midst of life's most troubled circumstances. I want that peace to be my peace.
they find rest as they walk into death.
That is so assuring, yet so confusing at the same time. I am the first to admit, though I know where I'm going, there is something about death that is still scary. Not because I don't know what will happen, but because it simply is the end of a chapter. When that day comes so many look back and regret. They regret they didn't spend more time with their families, or didn't achieve all the goals they worked towards. They regret that they wasted so many days on the futile things, seeking after that which didn't last. Yet there are those, who have lived as God has called them. When they reach their death beds, you find them being more of a comfort to those around them then ladened with regret. It's as if those who have walked in a manner worthy of the LORD know that their commission is over. They, as Paul said, have fought the good fight. They have won the race. Their lives have exploded. They found that their lives' fuse were connected to the biggest pile of dynamite known to man. They recognized that if their life was a fuse, God was their dynamite. They lived in such a way that God exploded through them, and at life's end, they know they saw an amazing fireworks display. That is the kind of end I crave. That is what I want my life to be. I want to be able to, at the end of my days, say that I lived in such a way that God exploded in my world!
Knowing He has exploded in my world, that I have completed the work He had given me, I can race into His arms and experience His rest. That is how I want to leave this world, experiencing the Holy Spirit's rest.
What holds me back?As I've thought about it, I like stuff! I like stuff! Rather I love this world. As much as I am committed to following after God and know that the next world is going to be so much more, there is a piece, rather a majority of my flesh that is still in love with this world. It saddens my heart that man couldn't live in God's freedom the first time through, because God's given us some pretty creative minds and I love experiencing all of it! I love technology and the cool creativity that is shown through it. I love people and spending time with them. I love nature, and the beauty of God's creation. I love food, the smells, flavors and all that goes with them. I am in love with life. That, I believe, is what holds me back. Death still brings a stigma of saying goodbye to some of that stuff. I know that what's on the other side it twice as nice, but it's like I'm not ready to say goodbye.
So that's just a glimpse into what God is working on in me. He's showing me, once again, that the explosion is all Him and that when the time comes for me to go, it won't be until He calls me home. Until then, I will enjoy life to the fullest, because life is something to be enjoyed as God's gift to us.
