At The End Of The Day

I’m 72 years old now and I have seen a lot of changes take place in my life time. Sometimes I feel that I don’t belong here anymore because of all of the complexities and hatred that I see and how so many things seem like they have been turned upside down.

Yet when I ponder on what I have seen and experienced I marvel that I have made it this far and how, in spite of so many mistakes that I have made, I have found faith and trust in a loving God and I know the end of my story before it has ended.

Life is a gift, all of us are dealt different circumstances but in spite of these different circumstances, life still is a wondrous gift.

It’s so easy to see now, how my world, especially in my youth, was focused on me. That is the way we all start and this trait follows the vast majority of us through all of our lives. It’s so easy to see that in others but we neglect to see it in ourselves. Our world, that which we take pleasure in, learn about, devote time to, revolves around us. And when you stop to think about it, that is probably the way it is supposed to be, at least for a time, because it is through our sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell that we experience this awareness of life that we have been given.

But as our minds begin to comprehend what we do see and experience we also learn about other things. Things like love, hate, greed, pride, joy, anger, sadness, distain, self confidence, inadequacies, selfishness, giving, pain, contentment, being accepted, rejection or being alone. And depending upon our circumstances, our character or who we are, is slowly formed.

But who we become does not always reflect who we feel we really are. We all have a tendency to focus on the shortfalls of others while overlooking our own. We see the world through our own eyes and fail to consider the consequences of our own choices or actions, especially as it affects others.

We look outward and fail to look within. 

Some begin to comprehend that who we are or who we have become also falls short of what we want to be and it is there that we come to a crossroad. It is only when we begin to try to change that which we comprehend about ourselves that we do not want to be that we begin to realize our own inability to accomplish that which we honestly desire. I have always found it interesting how God brings us to this place. We are the Captains of our own ship, we plot our own course, set our own goals and then we inevitably come to the junction in the road where we come to the realization that we need to look outside of ourselves.

Many of us have cried out to God at this point of our lives. The wonder of it all is that He answers.

And why do we turn to God? Because this gift of life that we have been given, this world that He has made for us, the senses and mind He has given us to explore, learn and discover, tells us that there is more, much more than what we see, touch, smell, taste and audibly hear. I think we instinctively know this. I think it is an internal witness or awareness. Some choose to deny or some just ignore, preferring to rely on their own version of what is good for them, versus God and all which that entails.

I believe that this internal witness or awareness is our spirit, for we have been created in the image of God and we also are a trinity. We have a body, a mind and a spirit or soul. And it is our spirit or soul that cries out within us to be at one with our Creator. And our minds, when we begin to truly endeavour to comprehend the wonders of our universe, the beauty of our earth and the vast variety of creatures that God has created for us, also witnesses to the reality of our Creator. The fine tuning of our universe, the information that has been found in DNA and the creation of our universe from nothing in the “Big Bang”, all point to God’s creation of time, matter and space.

Psalm 19:1-6 NIV “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.”

Romans 1:20 NIV “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

The probability of life, in all of it’s variant forms, happening by random chance becomes wishful thinking versus the evidential facts of reality.

Random chance doesn’t have enough time to produce what we now see. Not even close.

The religions of the world are man’s attempts to give an answer to the yearning of our spirit to be at one with the Creator. And once again we come face to face, via examination, to one revelation that stands alone from all others, the Holy Bible.

All other religions exhort man to reach up to God and grasp hold of Him through their own efforts. Christianity is the only religion where God reaches down to man. Other religions are systems of do’s and don’ts to appease God; whereas Christianity is a relationship with God based on acceptance of and faith in God sending His Son, Jesus Christ, who perfectly followed and demonstrated God’s will for mankind and gave His life to atone for our sins on the cross, so that we might be at one with our Heavenly Father. Christianity looks to the Bible as the singular source of Truth. And finally, Christianity is based upon truly the most amazing event in all of human history—the resurrection.

We also have the proven reliability of the Scriptures, both New and Old Testament. The prophecies of the Old Testament plus the archeological confirmation of the historical accuracy of the Bible and of course, the personal testimonies of millions and millions of Christians who have given their lives to Jesus and personally experienced God’s guidance and presence in their lives.

John 6:29 KJV “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

There will always be those who scoff at our faith, who deny God’s existence, who pursue their own will and desires instead of God’s. I understand that. But through the grace of God I have come to believe and have faith in what Jesus accomplished for me that I was not capable of doing myself and I believe that the work that He has begun in me He will bring to completion as His word states:

Philippians 1:6 NIV “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

This is my “at the end of the day”. This is what I have learned and experienced, that our Heavenly Father is a good Father, He truly loves us, so much so that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.

That “whosoever” is not just for me, it is also for you. This, like life itself, is also a gift, one which you need to accept to receive. If you don’t accept it, you won’t receive it, it is as simple as that.

P.S. Don’t forget to keep praying for Nabeel Qureshi !

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!