“Uncertainty” is a great word to describe the happenings of 2020. Procedures, activities, and social protocols we learned from childhood have been upended. The rules of the game, even the game itself, seems allusive these days. Deep inside we yearn for men and women of integrity; virtuous leaders who stand for truth, always taking the high ground or die trying. Yet that craving seems to end in a malnourished, unquenchable pursuit. We are left empty, hollow, haplessly spinning with no real compass to guide our befuddled spirit.
Maybe God allowed some of this “uncertainty” to be visited upon us to reveal our insufficiency, our utter inadequacy to combat these challenges on our own. Possibly we must reach the dead-end road to find we have been on the wrong path the whole time; chasing after elusive dreams that have left us empty and incomplete. Filling our lives with niceties and baubles that once satisfied our cravings for a season, now seem tasteless and in some cases bitter on our tongues.
Where do we turn? What is the solution?
This Sunday we are singing a fresh arrangement of a great hymn: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. I think until we the church and our nation grasp the true depth of this sentiment, we will be cursed to continue searching but never finding, tasting but never achieving true gratification, longing but never attaining true contentment.
I think I have shared this phrase before, but it bears repeating. “God is more concerned with our character, than our comfort.” We, the church, all too often are more concerned with our comfort than our character building. The present, what we see, looms large in the windshield of our lives.
So where do we turn? How do we face these problematic, challenging times?
II Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV) gives us hope.
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes NOT on what is SEEN, but on what is UNSEEN, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The “seen” is temporary. Our lives here are but a vapor that vanishes in the heat of day. In the scheme of eternity, the now is but a blink of an eye. Yet, we cling to it as if it is all there is.
Grab hold to the eternal! Invest in Heaven’s storehouse. Hold onto the Hope of Jesus Christ. Live by His precepts and find true meaning, hope and security. Then when the waves come, and they will, your house will stand.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand!
Hold onto Him! There we find true Hope!