Monday, June 11, 2012

2/365

What is your only comfort in life and death?
Life can be pretty comfortless. There are lots of things that cause us to doubt that any comfort exists. anxiety, fear, sorrow, these are all marks of man's sin in the world. It can be easy to see these things and stop there. I know I can easily get overwhelmed with the negatives in my life, and I don't think I am very different from anyone. Listen to how coworkers talk, often it is a strong of complaints about everything that has gone wrong in the past day, week or month. Often the one comfort people cling to is made evident in what they talk about. For a lot of people it includes, job security, a passionate relationship, enough money to live on, general happiness, the ability to pursue their own selfish desires without thought of any consequences.
Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and I realize that if people were to listen to my comments, they probably wouldn't think that my only comfort in life and death was that I belong both body and soul to my Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I want it to be, that's what I confess it to be, but I don't talk about it. I do not live like that is my only comfort in front of people I think it might be offensive to.
Keeping the truth a secret is a tricky thing. If you live like something other than the truth is truth long enough the truth becomes a lie, and you begin to make true the lie.
Yet, I wonder if sometimes we do not have an incorrect idea of how God wants us to live out the truth of His presence in our lives. Matthew 5: 14-15 reads, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a lamp stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." In my study bible there is a note below these verses that speaks about the nature of the oil lamps in ancient times. Apparently the light from these lamps was more like a gentle, steady glow than a flaming blaze. The lamps had to be placed carefully so that the light from them would illuminate the house adequately. This rings true in my own life. God, so far, has not placed me where I must blaze alone, trying to rid the world of darkness. He has pooled my light with my sister's, my fiancee's, my family's. God, in His perfect wisdom, gives me moments in which to mention Him, small moments that would nonetheless reveal that my mind is fully taken up with the beauty of His holiness. I pray that all my consciousness is overwhelmed with the beauty of the Lord. I pray that His light will seep through my very pores. I pray that every moment I gaze on Him, my face will reflect his own.

What is your only comfort in life and death?

That I am not my own, but belong, both body and soul, in life and death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who, with His precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head, yea; that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth to live unto Him.

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