So...originally this was supposed to be a poem, but apparently poetic impulse is failing me right now, and I've settled for prose.
It's not difficult for the heart to grow accustomed to its surroundings. Even in times of great change and transition, we often think we've got life fairly figured out--if only we can grasp the fact that this is a "season of change," we feel comfortable enough with the unknown. Recently, I was in just this place. Emotionless, focused, and assured of a heavenly hope, I was fairly certain that anything life threw my way would be alright. I was, I supposed, perfectly content where I was, and trusting God to work all things perfectly. Still, there was a bit of an unsettled concern that maybe, just maybe, the fact that I was so content meant I wasn't growing.
When we're abiding in the true vine, God doesn't let us remain complacent in contentment. As a matter of fact, He didn't let me stay in this state of peaceful resignation for very long. He let me taste it, see that it was good, and then He called me to move on. He placed people and circumstances in my life that would test that contentment, and challenge the commitment to peace. Because God is not just about the external ceremonies of duty--He is God jealous for our very hearts. And contentment is far more than being ambivalent to our daily circumstances; it is an active delight in the goodness of the Creator.
But these past few days, I've delighted more in His creations that in Him, very God of very God, the perfect and Almighty one. And friends, delighting in God isn't always about warm and fuzzy feelings. A lot of the time, eternal delight means temporal misery, until we learn to see things as God does.
Over the past few days and weeks, God's been reminding me of the heavenly hope that we have. I've fallen in love with the paradigm for Christian living set out in Romans 5: "tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience, and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed ." But what does this heavenly hope mean for us here and now?
I've begun to realize more and more that this life is going to be one of disappointed earthly hopes and pleasures in order to acheive that hope which is eternal and steadfast and unshakeable. But that scares me, because it means I have decisions to make. There are two roads before me--one broad and beautiful and spacious and full of fresh air and friends and butterflies and sweet, alluring melodies. From that road, I see another--dark, and narrow, and lonely, and empty, and a ferocious wind blows hauntingly through. Its paths are covered with thorns, and from the former road, there's nothing so appealing about the latter. So two roads, and one lifetime. Two feet--but only one choice. Far too often, I think I find myself in the valley between the two roads, feeding the weeds of pride and stroking the monster of complacency. These two feet are weak, and try for the latter path, but every step forward seems a thousand backward. Every conquered thorn bush merely reveals more fallow ground underneath. There seems no progress, no having already obtained a sought out end. From the broad road, my path seems folly. From here too, it seems a baffling mystery.
But I have come to love this hard road. I have come to pine for pain, and to pray for patience, for there is something unseen from that other road. There is one, who none other can see but myself, standing there, holding my hand, raising me though I fall seven times. There is a hope, and by faith I see mountains in the distance, and I hear rumors that these painful streets will one day lead to ones of gold, with no more tears, and no more pain, and no more lonely dark nights.
So for now, dear friends, press on. It is not enough to leave the first road, and flee sin. If that is all we do, we are sure to fall into the valley of lukewarmness. But above all, when you "flee also youthful lusts" " follow " (yes, actively seek after) "righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2nd Timothy 2:22) "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." (I Timothy 6:11)
It is not at all enough to avoid sin. We must follow hard after the heart of God, striving to be perfect, as He is. It hurts. It's NOT what our sinful natures want to do--it will mean sacrifice. Living above reproach is painful--and it guarantees that the world will reproach us.
But friends, we must press on. So Lord, let us have grace ...
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