Revelation 20.15 15 And if anyone's name was not found
written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (ESV)
Life is often like a cold, wet, and blustery day trying
to find that one piece of dry wood in order to start a fire, hoping the matches
aren’t wet as well. It’s not a downer (although we in the west might think it
so), it’s just a challenge. The colder it gets the bigger the challenge.
The challenge of this life is finding the reality of it
in the midst of a resounding chorus of voices which chime, on key and in
perfect timing, there is no reality
except what we presently have. And that would be true if there was no God.
If there is no God then life is merely a series of events which we go through
as we plod along toward a reality of death. And it’s over.
And there are those who believe that. And there are those who are not moved by the wonder
of a sunset, or the birth of a baby, or the roar of the ocean, or the majesty
of the night sky. There may be moments of happiness but for them there is no joy.
In the verse above, we understand it’s not an end, but
more like a next phase: the dawning of
realization. Revelation 20.10 reads: and
the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur
where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and
night forever and ever. We all understand day and night – we’re used to it
because it’s our reality. And the lake of fire is the lake of the realization
that God was right all along; and those who dwell in that fire realize, day and
night for eternity, that He was right … and they were wrong.
Our reality is we experience reality, and some are led to believe in God in the midst of the
human experience, while others dismiss Him as impossible because they perceive life
just is what life just is. For them there is too much evidence against the purpose
and plan of Someone who is looking
for a dry piece of wood on a cold, wet, and windy day and wants to start a
fire.
Life is not what happens to us but what we do with what
it does to us. Some, in the midst of it, celebrate God while others curse Him
until they plunge into the lake where their biggest fear finally dawns on them:
God was true and right all along. God
deals in realities. Unbelief denies them.
Today (it’s all I ever have), I’m to live in reality
because no matter how bad life seems to get, I have the promise that it isn’t
without plan, and it isn’t without purpose; even though it doesn’t make sense
to me and I don’t have all the answers. God has revealed Himself to me and that’s
enough. I suppose that’s why I won’t have to go swimming where I have to admit,
night and day forever, that I was wrong… and He was right – I’ve already
reached that conclusion. Now my reality is to live cooperating with Him in His
plan of trying to reach those who’ve already made up their minds, that there
might be an alternate reality worth their time and effort.
BTW: It isn’t warm on the beach of the lake of fire. It’s
cold, wet, and windy; the matches won’t light and the wood is soaked… forever.
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