Finding Your Way

The book of Ecclesiastes seems to be very apropos for this season in our world. Several verses have stood out to me in my reading this week:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die… a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance… a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing” (3:1-5 ESV).

 “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (1:2-3).

“Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (2:11).

This is a time when many things are being stripped away. Perhaps we are learning what is vain and what really matters. Perhaps we are finding out what actually forms our identity. If we find our meaning in our careers, what happens when we can’t go to work? If our value is in our achievements in education or sports, who are we when we can’t do those things anymore? Even if we find our identity in our relationships, as valuable as those relationships are, where do we turn when we lose them?

It’s not surprising that people turn to drugs, alcohol, pornography, or other addictive behaviors to try to fill the holes or at least numb the sense of loss. We all like to avoid the difficulty of realigning our worldview when everything familiar and comfortable is taken away. It’s painful to discover that the things we placed so much value on can disappear without notice. And most of us have lost multiple things we valued. A video I watched described it as a kind of culture shock. We have to adapt to a new way of life while also mourning the old way.

While many people view religion as a crutch or a fantasy, those of us who do have faith understand it to be a different perspective on reality. While the world focuses on the here and now and each person is looking out for their own interests, we Christians remember that this world is not our permanent home. We look forward to the day when all things will be made new and we’ll no longer have to live in a world broken by sin. We still mourn the things we’ve lost here, but we do not mourn as those who have no hope for eternal life. If this world is indeed all there is then indeed “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). But if there is more to come, we should “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).

Will we realign our priorities according to the world’s constantly changing standards or according to God’s standard? Will we find our identity in things that will eventually fall away or in the One who created us and gives us eternal life and value in Christ?

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come… and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it… The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:1, 7, 13).

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Worth It All

I keep a list of possible writing ideas, and I had noted a verse that I’d intended to comment on around Christmas. However, another verse came up recently and I don’t feel like waiting 10 months. Besides which, Christmas and Easter are intimately related and are relevant to every day.

In Luke 2:14 the angels announce, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (ESV). This about nine months after Gabriel told Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). Did you ever think about what it means to find favor with God or to be pleasing to Him? I remember vividly a conversation I had in college when I told someone I thought I had disappointed God. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a good answer for me, but I later learned that I can’t disappoint God when He knows me better than I know myself.

The Apostle Paul brought this to light in Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life,” and Ephesians 2:1-10, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us… made us alive together with Christ.” Not only were we enemies of God, but we were sinful corpses. That certainly doesn’t present any great case for us to be “those with whom He is pleased,” particularly when that angelic announcement came years before Christ’s reconciling death on the cross. And yet—He came, He died, He rose again out of His great mercy and love for a bunch of deadbeats.

John Ortberg comments in Love Beyond Reason, “As Lewis Smedes put it, it may be a very bad thing that I needed God to die for me, but it is a wonderful thing that God thinks I’m worth dying for. We may be ragged, but we must never confuse raggedness with worthlessness” (23). Our worth is not measured by what we do or fail to do, but by the fact that God has claimed us as His own. On those days when shame says, “You can’t do anything right,” we are still worth the cross of Christ. And on those days when pride says, “You scored big this time,” our worth to God hasn’t changed a bit.

Richard Foster, in his book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, shares the story of a man who meets with a spiritual advisor. Day after day he was told to meditate on Luke 1:26-38. After several frustrating days, “Though Jim could barely believe it, the angel’s word to Mary seemed to be a word for him as well: ‘You have found favor with God.’ Mary’s perplexed query was also Jim’s question: ‘How can this be?’ And yet it was so, and Jim wept in the arms of a God of grace and mercy” (145).

I’m sure I’m not the only one who needs frequent reminders of the immeasurable, unchangeable love of God for me. I can’t disappoint God, but I can sure disappoint myself, and my disappointment colors the way I see everything else. I imagine that at times I’m so busy rehearsing my failures that I don’t even hear God repeating, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” It’s one thing to remember that following God is worth it all, but He’s also reminding us “Child, you are worth it all.” God is never watching us and thinking, “Why did I give up My Son for these dumb people?!” No, He just keeps on giving grace and mercy, drawing us back into His loving arms, investing Himself in us for eternity. From our perspective that may seem like a pretty poor investment, but somehow He will make it all pay off in the end.

A college friend introduced me to an unpublished second verse to the chorus “More Precious Than Silver” from God’s perspective:

Child, you are more precious than silver,
Child, you are more costly than gold,
Child, you are more beautiful than diamonds,
And nothing I desire compares with you.

“Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows… Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” (Luke 12:7, 24).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.