“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11, ESV)
Life on earth can be short or long. We have no way of knowing the number of our days. The realization of life on the earth is fleeting comes along quite quickly as we live out our lives. We realize how moments past by like the seconds on a clock; swiftly and without much control on our part. Lofty intentions have long been forgotten in the passing of the ordinary. Our desires to travel to some dreamy and exotic location might never come about even as we have journeyed past the familiar day after day. People and friendships come and go; leaving mostly memories of connecting and un-connecting passages through time and relationships. Children grow up, leaving behind the undersized bikes, broken toys and countless interactions of love and parenting turning in our hearts like the pages of a book open to the wind.
Our mistakes follow us at times, a bit like our shadows on a bright day, reminding us of consequences we have dealt with and yet they linger around us. Our efforts at working, caring and giving, peek out from behind the clouds of feeling, shining as light in the remembering of the things we did right.
Still, what little control we have over our days on the earth. What do we really see as the point of our living? Is it to try hard? Is to grasp as much as we can from what we are given? Is it to struggle in doing good? What do we really live for? Why are we given life? Why were we created and what is truly the purpose of our living?
Christ comes as the “Light and Life” to all of His creation (John 1:4). He desires to give us life full of abundance (John 10:10). He gave His life for our salvation (John 3:16-17) and He desires because He is alive, to live in us (John 14:19). There is an eternal plan and purpose to our living and our dying. Eternity is in our hearts, to be found in the “Living and Risen Christ.”
We find our greatest fulfillment in our living, when our living is in and unto Christ. Our life comes from Him. Our living is sustained and guaranteed now and forever by Him as He abides with us. The Risen Christ is living in us. He comes by the power of His Empowering Spirit and God’s presence through His constant endearing and enduring love as our Lord abides with us in all that we are and do. He is all we desire, He is the only One that matters. He is the source, the nourishment, the desire and the strength in our living. Our greatest desire in life is to know Him and be in Him.
Our true living is in Him and for Him, because He is why and how we live. Thus when our days come to an end, we will come into His presence as greatest gain of our living. We may wonder about things and ponder the joys and frustrations of life, but we can life in nothing else than living or dying in relationship with our Savior.
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21, ESV).
Suggested Reading … Philippians 1
