Revelation 6.11 11 Then they were each given a white robe
and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and
their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had
been. (ESV)
In Revelation 6, the verse preceding this one says: They cried out with a loud voice, “O
Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our
blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (V. 10) That helps put things in
perspective for us. The divine response to their cry is simply: rest and wait.
When I was a wee lad of forty-seven I began to take an
interest in road-bike riding. I didn’t get my first road bike then; but I got a
bike and began to ride in earnest taking pleasure in going for long rides on
the highways and by-ways of central Oregon. I became friends with others who
liked to ride and learned all the ways of group riding etiquette and so on. I
also began to attend bike races and became familiar with the phrases: “You can rest when you die!” and, “No one has ever drowned in their own sweat!”
I think about those phrases when I
read Revelation 6: rest a little longer,
until the number of [your] fellow servants and [your] brothers should be
complete, who were to be killed as [you have] been. We can rest in Heaven.
How we are born and how we die is not the issue: how we
live between these two dates is what is important. You can rest when you die ought to be among the mottoes of our
lives because life on earth in not about rest, but action. And really, no one has
ever drowned in their own sweat.
Some are destined to be born into privilege; and some are
not going to have that privilege. Some are destined to live long and prosper; some
are destined to die for their toil on earth at the hands of men who kill them
because they so toiled. Their toil is to proclaim Him who hands out white robes
in Heaven. How we live and for Whom is the issue.
God decides our lives and what they’re supposed to be
about. How we live with His decision is mostly about how we interact with the
world. Some interact with it and fit right in; others reach a place where their
dissatisfaction with earth’s ways causes them to seek another Way – God’s way.
And when presented with God’s option, they accept and begin, much to earth’s great
disapproval, to toil for Him.
How we live
between these two dates is what is important. How I toil is important. The focus of my life is not what I’m going
to do in retirement, but how I live up to that point: I can retire when I die.
In the meantime, I to toil and strive in a resistance movement that shines a bright
but true light on the regime of earth which purports: “It doesn’t get any better than this!” or “Eat, drink, and be merry – for tomorrow we die!” It’ll be all over
then… (except the part about accounting for our toil…)
Father, I don’t pray for more of You (a stupid prayer if
I’ve ever heard one); I pray for You to have more of me. I pray for the
breaking of the hold on me that my culture says is all about how I should live:
for the moment, full of years, and full
of fun. I can rest in Heaven, and won’t have to worry about drowning in my
own sweat toiling for You! Find me soaked… Amen!
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