I have been doing a lot of writing lately. None of it has made it to this blog as it’s been quite intimate, reflections that have come to me mostly during Prayer times and hence seem quite personal in nature.
A common theme is slowly emerging from these reflections; the need to stitch together everything I do in family, community & Work to my larger calling of winning Souls for Christ. You may be familiar with the great commission in Mathew 28:16-20, but just in case, here’s an excerpt;
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We live in a highly secular world no doubt. We pursue wealth, we pursue impact, we pursue reputation, or all put together, we chase our dreams. Every achievement is a moment to be celebrated. We will toast drinks, reward ourselves with something nice, some of us will remember to thank God, we will soak in the words of admiration from our loved ones, and of course those Linkedin & Instagram likes never hurt anyone.
When things don’t go our way…that raise or promotion didn’t come as expected, the deal that would have turned your business around didn’t pan out because ‘they decided to go another way’, that relationship fell apart, or a medical issue kept us bed ridden for days…we wallow, we cry, we drink (it’s amazing how alcohol is faithfully there for you in good times and bad times), we ask God why, and finally, if you are like me, you pick yourself up and get back at it, better, stronger. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger after all.
This life we live is an ever moving pendulum of highs and lows, until the pendulum finally stops moving and our whole life is reduced into a few lines of a well crafted eulogy. Now that moment, that inevitable end that unites all humanity, poor or rich, good or bad, beautiful or not so beautiful is one that I have found hard to ignore lately.
No matter your belief system, this inevitable end is irrefutable proof that being over-invested in the things of this world is a futile attempt. Some talk about leaving the world better than you found it, but even they can’t explain to what long term end. According to Glaciologists (a very cool career name), the world as we know it today didn’t exist just 12,000 years back, and some believe there to have been a full civilization that had existed for millions of years then got wiped out in one cataclysmic spectacle. Many world religions and myths allude to a people who had angered their supernatural Creators. In Christianity we talk of Noah’s ark and the flood.
If you share my Christian belief, then the great commission above offers some answers to this great question. Christ did indeed talk of an end of the age. The book of revelation details out what this end of the age looks like, a time where all of us, dead or alive will have to stand judgement and account for our time on this earth. The basis of this performance review is exemplified in John 17:4, when Jesus Christ, in one of his final prayer moments before obediently offering himself up for crucifixion says, “I have Glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do“. Such sentiments are echoed about King David (Acts 13:21-22) and St. Paul (2 Timothy 4:7-8) towards the end of his ministry.
No one human knows what the end of the age looks like, and no matter how much we accomplish in this ephemeral world, it pales in comparison to the grand Scheme of God which only one man (Jesus) ever knew. The rest of us are meant to do only one thing i.e. Glorify the creator through Obedience to his instructions regarding our life (read Jeremiah 1:5), and in that way earn our own Glorification when we finally stand in judgement.
We may be in the World, but the true meaning of our lives is not of this World. I’m learning to put all my earthly pursuits into perspective through this lens, and it’s all finally coming together.
I pray that the same happens for you dear reader.
