The journey is only as short as where our affections lie

“For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” (Ro 9:28 AV)

 

It sure doesn’t seem like a short work, does it?  We see the history of mankind and wonder how much longer the LORD will allow this mess to continue.  However, 6,000 years of human history is nothing compared to all of eternity.  Hardships are difficult to endure.  We cannot see the end from the beginning so all we see is the journey.  We travel through life with one trial after another.  It never ends.  One trial completes, and we have a respite.  But then another takes its place.  We see the world getting ever more wicked.  Just when we think things cannot get any worse, something else happens.  Our once dependable allies in the battle for right are falling in line with the wicked aspirations of the Evil One.  We wonder where the promised righteousness might be.  We ask the LORD when His return might happen.  We wonder how much more a holy God can take before He comes in righteousness and judgment.  The words above were penned almost two thousand years ago.  The scribe, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit assures is the work of the LORD is a short work.  It will not continue for millions of years.  It will not continue for hundreds of thousands of years.  It will not even continue for tens of thousands of years.  It is a short work.  The answer to our impatience is to see the end from the beginning.

In years gone by, our little family of five lived in the Chicago area.  We had moved there from western New York.  Going back for a visit meant a ten to twelve-hour trip depending on how often we stopped and for what reason we stopped.  It takes about an hour before you kids begin to ask, “are we there yet”.  As they travel the same route several times, they know it takes a bit longer than they had hoped, so the span between when you leave and when they ask the question grows.  One of the factors is waymarks.  Stopping at the same stops and making a memory out of it.  One of those stops was the Sandusky travel plaza.  We would always stop there for a meal.  Another would be Erie, PA.  We would stop there to gas up and get a few more snacks.  The reason our kids had a problem in their journey was they could not see the end from the beginning.  They were too focused on being bored and cooped up.  They allowed the discomfort of the journey to overshadow Grammie’s house where they could play in the woods and drive the ATV around.  They focused on their sibling who was poking them rather than the nights spent in the quietness of a cabin.  Even if they had memories from which they could draw, they still struggled with the ride.  Mom and Dad, however, knew by experience what was coming.  Several days, if not weeks, of rest from the rigors of ministry.  No phone calls.  No church problems.  No trouble.  Days or weeks of peace and quiet with nothing more to do than shoot BB guns or go fishing.  What we could see and chose to think upon was what our children chose to ignore.  The journey is only as short as where our affections lie.

Paul tells us the work of Christ is a short work.  We have been here for 6,000 years.  To us, that is an eternity.  Not to God.  To an eternal God, all time is but a single moment.  The older I get, the more I understand this concept of time.  Perhaps because the majority of my life has already been lived and eternity is a whole lot closer.  It is getting easier to see the end from the beginning.  As I sit here and write this, I am also watching a YouTube video.  The video is of winter landscapes and flyovers with extremely relaxing piano music.  There was one shot of a mountain pass with the sun rising.  As I was meditating on the above concept, I couldn’t help but think of heaven.  The winter scape gave me thoughts like purity.  Quietness.  Peace.  Solitude yet also, the presence of God.  I then began to make a comparison to heaven.  How much like heaven these things are.  Now I am looking as a stream flowing through a snow-covered brook. Clean.  Refreshing.  Life-sustaining.  All the things of heaven.  Our journey would not seem so long if we had our eyes on the end of our way rather than the means of our way.  Heaven is just around the corner.  Jesus is coming back sooner than we think.  Eternity is so close.  No time to lose hope or ambition right now.  Just the opposite.  It is time to double down on what we can do for God before the opportunity is lost.