What will you choose?

‘One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after…’

In life we will always have choices.  It may not feel so in the moment, but it’s true nonetheless.  At our most comfortable and at our most trying we have (and always will have) the ability to choose – fear or faith.  Fear that overcomes faith will be a prison.  Faith that overcomes fear is freedom.

There is no position in life that one may obtain (riches, security, power) that can safeguard against the outstretched arm of pain or worry.  However, there is also no destitution that can come upon us which can render us beyond the reach of faith and hope.  The presence of clouds doesn’t change the fact that the sun is shining still.  We can’t see it, yet we know it.

The same is true in life.  Christ in on His throne, and all things are being brought into submission to Him (Heb 2 from Ps 8).

Now in putting everything in submission to Him, He left NOTHING outside His control.  At present, we do not yet see everything in submission to Him, but we do see Him…,namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor….

How then do we ‘see’ Jesus crowned with glory and honor while we don’t ‘yet see’ all things in submission to Him?  Faith.  Belief.

David prays in Psalm 27,

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.

So we can see some action words in these verses: ask, seek, dwell, gaze, inquire (or meditate).  These words must help to guide our choices throughout life’s highs and lows.

Whether healthy or dying, are we seeking to dwell in the Lord’s house?  Whether rich or poor, do we seek to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord?  Whether comfortable or afraid, are we inquiring in the Lord’s temple?  The Lord, reigning at the center of everything, must be our one thing.  And we must seek after it continually.  For faith chosen today is good, but the choice will return again tomorrow.  Faith is like manna in that way.  Yesterday’s is no good for today.

The glory of the gospel of Christ is that we now have a choice where before there was only despair.  Therefore, let us joyfully and courageously partake of the freedom we have been given to choose.  Or as Hebrews 10 proclaims,

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH.  …LET US OLD FAST THE CONFESSION OF OUR HOPE WITHOUT WAVERING, FOR HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL.

Comforted

The problem of discomfort

Think with me for a second. Things are not as they should be. Or, at least in our minds, things are not as they could be. Live long enough in this world and you will learn the simple equation, Life = Discomfort.

I probably don't need to do much convincing on this point, and I'm aware that we all carry around our own pain (Prov 14:10). So my thoughts turn towards....'Now what?'. Is there any answer for the reality we live through?

A fork in the road

Philosophies of life, stated or assumed, are formed in the responses we make to life's discomfort, and I think there are two general paths that are chosen. Some choose to stockpile comfort in this life/world by continuously amassing stuff and then holding on, hoping it never runs out. Others seek a different world altogether. The hoarders and the givers. The near-sighted and the far-sighted. The comfortable and the comforted.

The words of Jesus clearly speak, 'In this world you will have trouble.' Maybe that sounds like an understatement to you, but the words don't end there. Jesus is setting the stage of life with the props and characters we are all familiar with, but then He steps onto that same stage and speaks His line. Who we become (or may become) in this troublesome life depends largely on how/if we read the rest of the verse. 'But take heart! I have overcome the world.' (John 16).

Not enough pillows in the world

To attempt to pad ourselves with the cushions of money, fame, or possessions (or worse numb ourselves with drunkenness, apathy, or oblivion) is like trying to outrun your shadow. In fact, many of the characteristics of those we think comfortable in this world (and perhaps envy a bit?) may be attributes of cowardice. Now, I'm not denouncing wealth in one's life, unless that treasure pile has become one's sole (or soul) security and comfort. Jesus said, 'Take heart!', not 'Buy stock!' or 'Marry rich!' or 'Get drunk!'. The call of Christ is to be bold in belief and commitment.....to Him.

Why? Not because He sells the best insurance policy or has found the best loophole around the pain problem. He says, 'I haven't merely overcome your circumstances. I have overcome this entire world and the way it is and does things.' He speaks of a comfort that this world cannot give or understand because it (itself) is broken (John 14). He (Himself) is the only remedy to life's discomfort.

Where we end up

Please don't take these words as a prosperity, Jesus-makes-everything-happy, no more tears pat on the back. All His words are true, and you will still read 'you will have trouble' in John even after you receive His salvation. But just as John's Gospel is true, so is his Revelation. There will come a day when there will be no more tears, no more death, mourning, weeping, or pain. No more discomfort.

The sequence we are called to is not comfortable living now followed by more really comfortable living later. The way of life we are called to is to be comforted by believing now through all that may come, and then be brought to the day when true comfortable life becomes a reality. It arrives with Jesus, Him whom we have believed. And, as impossible as it sounds, nothing now (yes, even that) will compare to the comfort then, but you can believe it.