“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever.” (Psalm 16:11 NLT)
While physical existence begins at conception, true life, as it was always meant to be lived, doesn’t begin until we meet our Creator and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Realizing that may sound more like rhetoric than truth, may I assure you, based on my more than 60 years of walking with the Lord, and the testimonies of many others over the years, Jesus IS life in the truest sense of the word.
The testimony of martyr Jim Elliot helps us when he wrote: “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus.” Life isn’t measured by the number of times our heart beats, the number of awards on our wall, or the number of trophies on our shelves. It’s measured by our level of commitment to Christ and the degree of effectiveness we’ve had in allowing Him to live His life out through us.
If our goal to is to live conservatively, guarding our health, staying close only to family and dear friends, never risking involvement in the lives of those who may “compromise” us in any way, we may live beyond 100, but we won’t have experienced life. Life is living for Jesus and investing ourselves in His eternal Kingdom.
Kingdom investment requires risk and can cut our life on earth short, as it did for Jim Elliot, but when you compare 29 years on earth with an eternity in heaven, it’s a no-brainer. Yes, of course, there are many wonderful things we can and hopefully do experience on earth, but the greatest pleasure on earth can’t be compared with a single second in heaven with our Savior.
How can I possibly say that? Because the most wonderful, joy-filled, satisfying, stimulating, exciting, emotionally moving moments of my existence on earth are spent with Jesus. There is no earthly pleasure that can compare with moments spent in fellowship with the lover of my soul. No, not even sex!
Physical pleasure in the context of wholesome, God-ordained ways, is good, even great! But hearing God’s voice, sensing His pleasure, knowing your life matters to Him, can’t be measured by any earthly standard. Try to imagine the smile on Jim Elliot’s face and watch his tears of joy when he learns the man who took his life, later knelt at the feet of the King of kings as a result of his wife’s faithful service to his tribe.
Think of Jim and the man who murdered him embracing on the streets of heaven, weeping, jumping up and down, celebrating their Savior Jesus. The world can’t understand that kind of joy and satisfaction in that kind of context. Words can’t describe what God has done, is doing, and will do for one who cares less about their own life than their life in Jesus.
Is that the life you’re seeking? Thinking more of heaven and your investment in God’s Kingdom than your own life on earth? In this season He’s always on my mind. All I want is to be, do, think, say, or write, whatever He lays on my heart. As much as I enjoy my life on earth, and I do, I can’t wait to see my Savior face-to-face.
My sense is I won’t be on my feet long before I’ll be kneeling or likely lying prostrate in worship of my King; my life’s dream coming true at last.
This is the life I seek.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 