He took life head-on, the way it came at him, and did not ask for favor or allowances.”
–Elmer Kelton (The Man Who Rode Midnight)
“For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
“For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
–Revelation 7:17(NKJV)
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How do you take life? You can’t hide your head in the sand like an ostrich, nor can you run to the caves in the mountains for life will follow you. Oh, some take that last great escape and take their own life, but in reality do they? Life, and death, is in the hands of God, but it is up to us to deal with the living of it.
They are many philosophies concerning life. That tells you that man has and is interested in living it. Idealism, existentialism, pessimism, optimism, fatalism, postmodernism, and all the other isms you can think of along with the many different religions of the world. One thing I do know, disagree if you will, but one must have a proper view of eternity to face life properly.
Jesus understood life, and death. He came to this world to live as a man, to experience what you and I experience: the ugliness, the poverty, the cheating, the arrogance, the loneliness. . . you go ahead and add to the list. I am reminded of a song by Gladness Jennings–The Street Where the Lonely Walk. Here is a verse and chorus.
“The street where the party is, where lights blaze–and glare,
The gay and the debonair throng this thoroughfare;
Amid all the gaudiness and much seeming bliss
Loneliness stalks its prey, and death finds a way.
Oh! Holy Spirit–This is my pray’r
Make me a blessing–to somebody there
The street where the glory is is pretty to see;
But the street where the lonely walk is calling to me!”
Yes, life comes at us in various ways. As Christians we should daily count our blessings, and then seek in some way to help someone else along the way. What has life shown you? Of course, as a believer there is that steadfast hope, but if you went to a gallery of art and upon the walls of that great gallery were pictures of life what would you see? Hank Williams, in his short, troubled life wrote about one such gallery, and it might behoove us to glance at it now and then.
“In the world’s mighty gallery of pictures,
Hang the scenes that are painted from life,
There’s pictures of love and of passion,
And there’s pictures of peace and of strife,
There hang pictures of youth and of beauty,
Of old age, and the blushing young bride,
They all hang on the wall,
But the saddest of all,
Are the pictures from life’s other side.”
Count your blessings for God has lifted you up out of the mire of sin. He has given you a new life, the old things–the old life and way have past away, all things have become new. But even with that we are faced with life. Warren Wiersbe writes, “Life does not stand still. Life comes at us full speed, without warning, and we must stand up and take it and, with God’s help, make the most of it.”
Solomon said that he “saw all the living who walk under the sun.” He saw the good and the bad, the light and the dark. He saw that all of this was “vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:13-16) Pessimism from a man who had riches in abundance, yet found himself grasping for the meaning of life. It would do us well to heed the words of Jesus and solemnly think of their significance. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37, NKJV)
——————————–
How do you take life? You can’t hide your head in the sand like an ostrich, nor can you run to the caves in the mountains for life will follow you. Oh, some take that last great escape and take their own life, but in reality do they? Life, and death, is in the hands of God, but it is up to us to deal with the living of it.
They are many philosophies concerning life. That tells you that man has and is interested in living it. Idealism, existentialism, pessimism, optimism, fatalism, postmodernism, and all the other isms you can think of along with the many different religions of the world. One thing I do know, disagree if you will, but one must have a proper view of eternity to face life properly.
Jesus understood life, and death. He came to this world to live as a man, to experience what you and I experience: the ugliness, the poverty, the cheating, the arrogance, the loneliness. . . you go ahead and add to the list. I am reminded of a song by Gladness Jennings–The Street Where the Lonely Walk. Here is a verse and chorus.
“The street where the party is, where lights blaze–and glare,
The gay and the debonair throng this thoroughfare;
Amid all the gaudiness and much seeming bliss
Loneliness stalks its prey, and death finds a way.
Oh! Holy Spirit–This is my pray’r
Make me a blessing–to somebody there
The street where the glory is is pretty to see;
But the street where the lonely walk is calling to me!”
Yes, life comes at us in various ways. As Christians we should daily count our blessings, and then seek in some way to help someone else along the way. What has life shown you? Of course, as a believer there is that steadfast hope, but if you went to a gallery of art and upon the walls of that great gallery were pictures of life what would you see? Hank Williams, in his short, troubled life wrote about one such gallery, and it might behoove us to glance at it now and then.
“In the world’s mighty gallery of pictures,
Hang the scenes that are painted from life,
There’s pictures of love and of passion,
And there’s pictures of peace and of strife,
There hang pictures of youth and of beauty,
Of old age, and the blushing young bride,
They all hang on the wall,
But the saddest of all,
Are the pictures from life’s other side.”
Count your blessings for God has lifted you up out of the mire of sin. He has given you a new life, the old things–the old life and way have past away, all things have become new. But even with that we are faced with life. Warren Wiersbe writes, “Life does not stand still. Life comes at us full speed, without warning, and we must stand up and take it and, with God’s help, make the most of it.”
Solomon said that he “saw all the living who walk under the sun.” He saw the good and the bad, the light and the dark. He saw that all of this was “vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:13-16) Pessimism from a man who had riches in abundance, yet found himself grasping for the meaning of life. It would do us well to heed the words of Jesus and solemnly think of their significance. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37, NKJV)