Wow!
What happened?? In the blink of an eye I've become a scruffy antique!
But that's good! There's an eternal purpose concealed in the enigma
of time. In 1963 I was a clueless high school senior. Now at 72 I'm a
revived, school of hard knocks senior.
In
my late 20's I had a life altering encounter with Jesus. It was as if
I'd been dreaming all my life and suddenly I was wide awake! My life
was no longer meaningless and absurd. I didn't know I
was dreaming until I woke up to unimaginable love, hope and saving
grace. The truth of that experience has been confirmed
innumerable times over the years.
This
rant is not gloomy negativity. It's about the goodness of God that
leads to repentance! But, until you've truly resolved the specter of death, your fake optimism will backfire. If we fail to see our dire need for a Savior we
will continue in wishful thinking.
Life
on earth is merely a fleeting vapor. Time is a brief cosmic
aberration, intended to humble us so we'll wake up to reality and
choose eternal life. “This sore travail has God given to the
sons of men, to humble them thereby.”(1)
Life is a process of humiliation designed to awaken us. Growing
old is actually God's mercy, intended to expose
our deceptive thinking. This earthly journey is a grace period -
our last chance to be delivered from self-deification.
The
tragedies of life will either break and humble you, or you will
proudly refuse to admit your spiritual bankruptcy, and self-delusion
will consume you. We are all in a time warped metamorphosis, and our
choices in this dark cocoon seal our eternal destiny. Old age is the
cleaving of our cocoon. Are you becoming a butterfly or a dead
larvae?
Grace
and Truth come only by humility. If you are brutally honest, you will
hear God in your conscience, and realize that apart from Him, all is
vanity and hopeless vexation. But
in Him is unfathomable peace, joy and love!
Knowledge of absolute immutable Truth is
available to anyone who honestly seeks God. But, brokenness
is required. “The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart.”(2)
How
desperate are you to know Him? Until
you're painfully aware of your need for God's mercy, the Truth will
not penetrate your heart. Old age is God's last call!
There's
only one source of eternal life. “Whoever has the Son has life;
whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (3)
Without the Spirit of Christ, you are literally “The Walking
Dead.”
It's
easy for prisoners on death row to seek God. But, we are all on death
row! Seek Him with desperation, and you will know with
unmitigated assurance that Jesus doesn't merely represent the way,
the truth and life, but He literally IS the only Way, Truth and
Life. (4)
Every
person on the planet intuitively recognizes Christ because our
spirits originated in heaven, (5) yet our
egotistical, wounded, angry, indoctrinated hearts contradict and
displace the voice of God. But, when we become vulnerable enough to
receive the Holy Spirit, “The Spirit itself bears
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
(6)
Such invincible knowing eclipses mind and emotions.
Jesus,
“The Light of the World,” was sent to a planet defined as the
“region and shadow of death.”(7)
He revealed that
“reality” as advertised on earth, is in fact a dark devolving
illusion. The Bible calls it “sin.”
Quantum
physics envisions a shocking probability. The universe may be nothing
more than a hologram or a symbolic manifestation of energy.
Physicists are convinced that reality differs dramatically from its
appearance. This resonates with Jesus' message. He came to earth to
reveal ultimate reality
called “The Kingdom of God.” According to scripture, there is a
kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness. All else is incomplete
and transitory, but heaven and hell are eternal. I can deny it,
distort it or misconceive it, but I cannot create an alternative
reality. I can only choose life or death.
If
I demand that God appease the thoughts of my wounded soul before I
yield to Him, then I have placed myself in the absurd and dangerous
position of judging God.
“There is a way that
seems right to
a man, But its end is the way of death.” (8)
“Truly
the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; and madness is in
their hearts while they live.”(9) “The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can
fathom it?”(10) This is the state
of humanity. It is not subject to man's opinions or noble acts, and
failure to perceive it will forever seal your destiny as a legal
slave of Satan.
The
bottom line is this: All human existence will be reduced to the unalterable eternal realities of heaven or hell. There are
only two options: “the law of the spirit of life in
Christ,” or the “law of sin and
death.” (11) Which law
will you embrace? The choice is entirely yours. Indecision is a
choice.
You will only believe what you are willing to accept. Accept nothing less than absolute assurance. When you “see” Him there will be no question.
“If
you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him
with all your heart and with all your soul.”
(12) "So I (Jesus) say to
you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock
and the door will be opened to you.” (13)
“And
this is eternal life, that they know
you the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.” (14)
References
1.
Ecclesiastes 1:13
2.
Psalms 51:17
3.
1 John 5:12
4.
John 14:6
5.
Genesis 2:7
6.
Romans 8:16
7.
Matthew 4:16
8.
Prov 14:12
9.
Ecclesiastes 9:3
10.
Jeremiah 17:9
11.
Romans 8:2
12.
Deuteronomy 4:29
13.
Luke 11:9
14.
John 17:3
Copyright
2018 By: Hayden Humphrey
