We were all born into the world with unknown notions of what this life actually is and what awaits us. It is a journey of seconds, minutes, hours, days and years of experiencing a mortality that is all but too short. How is it that some live it to the fullest and others do not. Some spend immeasurable hours and with immense effort to attain the world's wealth, only to lose it or fear that it will be taken from them. Others spend their lives on a spiritual quest, tasting, seeking and trying just about anything known to obtain peace within and without and many are disappointed in their journey. Others may be blissfully unaware of the deep seated needs within and just live day to day and then fade into oblivion not knowing what lies beyond or maybe even satisfied of a life lived. But I am not.
I have not wealth, or poverty, or extreme inward peace that leads to contentment, but what I do have...is the knowledge of the one who truly had the life and died and let it all go for you and for me. Christ. Christ, the Messiah, the chosen vessel of God's totality here on the Earth lived a life not much envied by many an even died in abject agony while loved ones stood by along with those who hated him as well.
But everything that was embodied in the man Jesus was controversial, stirring, confusing, and amazingly loving towards those who knew him personally.
Jesus absolutely turned the tables upside down on the definition of what life really is. If you wanted to hold onto it then you would die. And if you died towards yourself then you would live! Yes that is upside down and inside out but it makes sense to all those who have embraced his teachings and have accepted that he was the incarnate God and removed our sins and our "baggage" held onto long enough by us to kill us.
Life on Jesus's terms meant a daily lesson in denying all of those things that are so natural in us to do. Lying, stealing, coveting, slander, lustfulness, and even those things that my have been looked upon as good, competition, being first, being strong, being wealthy, all American traits we have come to know being raised in this country. In and of themselves it is not wrong just self- oriented. Jesus was anything but. "What does light have to do with darkness? Or righteousness with unrighteousness" "Do not be unequally yoked", If you want to be first then be last and so forth. Absolutely the tables have been turned for us and in that we can rest assured that we have the life he wanted for us. In the self denial, we become lovers of others before ourselves and want what's best for all people. We become less oriented to our own needs and begin to take on the mantle left for us by the one who went before us, and it is not easy to do. It is a process and a lifetime of change from within to without. In that, we trust our Lord completely with the words he left for us we have many many promises of life left to us both here and in the kingdom we hope to be in after this life is lived. Also we have the Spirit of Christ, within us as witness of to the truth of the Gospel and it's absolute integrity as the word of God. Historically recorded, orally transmitted, and divinly inspired by thousands and many generations who also testified of it's authenticity. That is the peace giving gift left to us and to all who would taste and see that the Lord is good. Now, have I led a life I thought I would after receiving Christ? Absolutely not. My ideas and God's , totally different. Am I living the prosperity doctrine? Absolutely not. Am I starving, no, but I have known poverty, shipwreck, disapointment, betrayal and all of the other sufferings that Jesus said we might also experience, yet for all that, my confidence has not been shaken one iota. It is in the knowledge that he has never left me alone in the trials that has given me life and seeing all the unexpected ways he has met all those trials. Not as I would have imagined. The blessings...three children, when doctors said we would be childless, and they all graduated college with scholarships earned with hard work and no debt incurred. In this day that is something. Health, yes just the minor aches that come with age. Housing, yes modest but affordable and a job yes, one that does not terribly stress, just the normal day to day obstacles between light and dark being in opposite kingdoms. At least I can now make sense of a world on fire and of a world grown small with the daily sorrows brought all but too close with the intense media we have at our fingertips. I also look for those who seek and yet still do not know there is a God, a personal one that cares and would love to intercede if only senses were attuned and minds open and the cliches of Christianity weren't so destroyed by those who preach falsely or without understanding.
So my table has been turned upside down for 37 years and i'm still learning to adjust and not flip it over again! Peace
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