11.55 a.m…
Today I am reminded of the nonconformist Mark Twain’s quote, “The coldest winter I ever spent anywhere was a summer in San Francisco.”
On this cold, wet, windy, foggy and dreary July Saturday morning in the city, I find myself reflecting on the ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF LIFE…again! So, here is the question: Why are we here (on earth) and what happens (where do we go) when we die?
I find myself contemplating, again, that, today and forever, we serve an AUDIENCE OF ONE… No amount of public or social approval matters. No amount of worldly success is important.
I, personally, really like this quote by John Howard Yoder… “The believer’s cross is no longer any and every kind of suffering, sickness, or tension, the bearing of which is demanded. The believer’s cross must be, like his Lord’s, the price of his social nonconformity. It is not, like sickness or catastrophe, an explicable, unpredictable suffering; it is the end of a path freely chosen after counting the cost… It is the social reality of representing in an unwilling world the Order to come.”
As nonconformists to this world, Irene and I seek and desire to represent Him. We accept being misunderstood from time to time. NOTHING that isn’t done in the Spirit and to the glory of God will matter. Nothing! So, where do we get such thinking? From Jesus himself, who says, “…apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 14). We take Jesus at his word. That’s a “goose egg”, zero…NOTHING! This radical concept causes one to deeply evaluate what is ETERNALLY important as we walk this earth for just a few short years.
So what does matter to Jesus?
We have concluded from scripture that the answer is summed up in one word: FAITHFULNESS. At the end of the day, we will give an account of our lives to Him who judges justly. Jesus asks if he will find our faith in him alive and active when he returns.
Certainly this experience is life changing for all of us, especially for those of us in the heat of the battle. But we
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