Left Undone

 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

(Eph. 2:10, NKJV).

 

We are to accomplish all the good works, big and small, that God has prepared for us. This is our purpose, why we were created. Unfortunately, sometimes we fail to do the good things we should do. For example, we may not pray for others as we should (see 1 Sam. 12:23); we may hold onto bitterness and not forgive someone (see Matt. 6:15).  Maybe we’ve felt a prompting to give and meet a certain need, but we haven’t followed through. Perhaps we have a conviction to witness to someone, yet we’ve held back.  Maybe we know we should be serving at church or somewhere else but we make excuses instead.  We need to realize that these omissions are sin to us.

 

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 4:17 (NKJV)

 

Someday, we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our lives, what we’ve done and what we’ve failed to do (2 Corinth. 5:10).  That should motivate us to follow the Lord’s leading and be obedient to do all that He calls us to do.  Besides, to live each day with a clear conscience and without regrets is a true blessing. 

 

It isn’t the thing you do, dear,

It’s the thing you leave undone,

That gives you the bitter heartache

At the setting of the sun;

The tender word unspoken,

The letter you did not write,

The flowers you might have sent, dear,

Are your haunting ghosts at night.

 

The stone you might have lifted

Out of your brother’s way,

The bit of heartfelt counsel

You were hurried too much to say;

The loving touch of the hand, dear,

The gentle and winsome tone,

That you had no time or thought for,

With troubles enough of your own.

. . .

For life is all too short, dear,

And sorrow is all too great,

To allow our slow compassion

That tarries until too late.

And it’s not the thing you do, dear,

It’s the thing you leave undone,

That gives you the bitter heartache,

At the setting of the sun.*

 

*Poem attributed to Adelaide Proctor and printed in “Streams in the Desert” by L.B. Cowman (July 30^th).

Eventually...

 Eventually, stuff works out. Below is a picture I took of the planet Mars. As I said last week, a big white spot.

It would probably be more interesting if you could see the stars around it, but that was difficult because this was just to the right of it:

And the focus on these was difficult because of distortion in the air, so this is all I was able to get.

You see, eventually, things work out. And, that is true for everything. The cliche is that "all things come to an end". Not just good things come to an end, but all things. Eventually, there will be this event where the Creator of the universe sits on a throne to judge, and heaven and earth will flee from him, and find no hiding place...I know, right? What will that look like?

There will be a day when books will be opened, and another book will be opened. John described it this way:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15 NASB

Books were opened, and everyone, great and small, were judged by what was written in "the books". But, at the end of the process, it didn't depend on what was in the books, but whether your name is written in the Book of Life. Are you alive? That's what counts.

I have been reading a book that explores theology using the Peanuts cartoons as illustrations. I was pretty intrigued by it until the author makes this case that there is no future hell, and everyone goes to heaven. Nice idea, but not Scriptural. He tries to make it so, but the problem is that his attempts are to reconcile his idea of what a "god of love" would do, rather than accept the self-revelation of the God who is love.

So, this author and I differ on that view. Eventually, we'll know which of us is right. One day we'll stand before this massive white throne, and our judge will be the God who is, rather the one of our imaginations. Maybe we will both be wrong, having both worshipped different gods of our imagination.

I'm trying to perceive the God revealing Himself through Scripture, and I'm relying on my hope that He won't judge too closely on accuracy. I've given up on understanding Him, and now work on accepting Him as I perceive Him. Eventually, I will see Him as He is. I doubt I will understand Him, even then. And, I hope my exercise in acceptance of Him will pay off as I grapple with that "up close and personal" experience of His presence.

I hear it's good to have goals...