THE STORY THAT STARTS AT THE END
I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isa. 44:22, R.S.V.
At sometime we've all turned to the end of the book to discover how the story ends before we've read the whole narrative. There is something in us that can't wait! We've got to know! Does it turn out all right? Perhaps the deepest longing in our hearts is reflected in such acts of "peeking"--the longing to know that life is going to turn out all right for us!
Have we been left helplessly adrift in a chaotic universe? Is there any hope, any answer to the dilemma into which we were born--that is, our estrangement from God? God Himself has turned to the end of the book, as it were, that we might be comforted in the knowledge that life will turn out all right. We have only to return to Him.
Simple as this may sound, returning to God is not that easy if you feel very guilty about the choices you've been making in life, or if you are not at all sure what God will do with (or to) you when you return to Him. I believe many so-called atheists are not really rejecting the exercises of God; they are rejecting the concept of a God with whom they could never feel secure. How, indeed, could everything turn out for the best if your concept of God leaves you wondering if you'd even want to spend eternal life with Him?
Is heaven just a place where there will be no more pain or sorrow or crying? a place where good food is never lacking and endless tomorrows are assured? Is eternal life merely the absence of death? Do we secretly wish we'd never have to face God, that somehow we could just get "lost in the crowd" on the sea of glass? Or is heaven a ceaseless approaching in sweetest fellowship to the One for whom our hearts long?
If we could but catch a glimpse of our greathearted Father sweeping away our misconceptions (the true source of our misbehavior) about Himself as He proclaims that He has made every provision for counterbalancing our years of separation from Him, would we not eagerly allow our lives to be reunited to Him?
In fact, God announced His intentions toward us even before we knew He cared! And He assures us, "I've made everything right. You can come home!"
I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isa. 44:22, R.S.V.
At sometime we've all turned to the end of the book to discover how the story ends before we've read the whole narrative. There is something in us that can't wait! We've got to know! Does it turn out all right? Perhaps the deepest longing in our hearts is reflected in such acts of "peeking"--the longing to know that life is going to turn out all right for us!
Have we been left helplessly adrift in a chaotic universe? Is there any hope, any answer to the dilemma into which we were born--that is, our estrangement from God? God Himself has turned to the end of the book, as it were, that we might be comforted in the knowledge that life will turn out all right. We have only to return to Him.
Simple as this may sound, returning to God is not that easy if you feel very guilty about the choices you've been making in life, or if you are not at all sure what God will do with (or to) you when you return to Him. I believe many so-called atheists are not really rejecting the exercises of God; they are rejecting the concept of a God with whom they could never feel secure. How, indeed, could everything turn out for the best if your concept of God leaves you wondering if you'd even want to spend eternal life with Him?
Is heaven just a place where there will be no more pain or sorrow or crying? a place where good food is never lacking and endless tomorrows are assured? Is eternal life merely the absence of death? Do we secretly wish we'd never have to face God, that somehow we could just get "lost in the crowd" on the sea of glass? Or is heaven a ceaseless approaching in sweetest fellowship to the One for whom our hearts long?
If we could but catch a glimpse of our greathearted Father sweeping away our misconceptions (the true source of our misbehavior) about Himself as He proclaims that He has made every provision for counterbalancing our years of separation from Him, would we not eagerly allow our lives to be reunited to Him?
In fact, God announced His intentions toward us even before we knew He cared! And He assures us, "I've made everything right. You can come home!"
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