From the Land of the Dying to the Land of the Living by Rocky Fleming
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:6-9 (ESV)
“I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon,” were the words spoken by John Newton right before his death. You might remember the wonderful song, Amazing Grace. He was the author. What a wonderful perspective as John made ready to depart his mortal body to be joined with his eternal body in his eternal home. I sense that he had an amazing joy because of God’s amazing grace, for he knew that his real life was about to begin, and the old, painful, temporary life he had endured would be over.
Have you ever thought that a person who lives in a short-term place for a while, but will return to his or her home to live there permanently, would easily see that their temporary life was not their real life and the one ahead is to be looked forward to? I think of those men or women who are put in jails or prisons for a while, and then return home. I think of military men and women who go to the battlefield for a while, and then return home. I think of those who are hospitalized, or on a short time assignment and then return home. Even college students who enjoy four or five years of college know that college life is not real life. I had my experience with it when I lived apart from my family a year while attending a military school. Every day I longed to get back to my home life, my family, and the place I was birthed. I adapted to my temporary life simply by enduring it until it was over, and then when it was over, I felt that my real life had returned to me. But did it really?
Because we know that our temporary life circumstances are just that, temporary, we don’t typically put down permanent roots in a place that is not where our heart lies. We tend to hold back on it. We see it as a just passing through stage of life. We endure it and try to get past it to the life that we want to live, which we hope is our real life. I think most of us remember at some point in our life when we had this longing in us. It is normal to desire and seek a permanency in life that is stable, satisfying and unshakable.
Many people spend their life seeking it, and some to a degree think they’ve found it until it is taken from them by death, disease, financial loss, loss of loved ones, and conditions they never saw coming or could have prevented. Though they think they had found their permanent home, which they think is their real life, they lose it in the end proving that they were still only in a temporary place. This is a sign that in this life we are really never secure nor do we find a place of permanency. It is a dose of reality. But look how many still try the next sure-fire thing to get it, only to be disappointed.
King Solomon in Ecclesiastes said it like this about his futile efforts to obtain that which could never be obtained in this life. He called his many efforts useless. "Vanities on vanities" he called it, after he had given his life and resources to find that illusive permanency that evaded him. In the end he tells us that it was a waste of time. But don’t be discouraged by the reality of his futility or your own, for there is a life that we deep down long for that is available for us, and like most good things, there is a period of deferred gratification until we find it. As followers of Christ this life is ahead for us and the joy of what we will have will greatly overcome what we cannot find in this life. This is not true for everyone. But it is true for true followers of Christ. The question to you as God’s child is, “Do you live in the land of the dying and see it as the living end as you pursue it, or do you live for the land of the living that is ahead for you and live as if you are currently living in a temporary place?”
The question I just asked is not trite. It is a very important question that followers of Christ must be asking and answering daily. Some other relevant questions are: Will I choose to invest my life in God’s agenda, or my own? Will I try to build God’s kingdom, or my own. Will I live to gratify my own desires, or God’s desires for me? Do I see my life as a meager shadow of the one to come, or do I live as if there is nothing better than what I can make for myself in this world?
If any of these questions prompt you to look inward and cause you to question if any are true, I have some good news for you. You are being confirmed that you are either walking with the Lord and His priorities are filtering in and through your life, or you are being invited by Him to do so. It is either yes or no, and a good honest "No" will begin to turn you toward what you deep down long for. If you will get into a holy rhythm of walking with the Spirit, then He will be making you aware that the best is yet to come and to endure this life until you get there. Your perseverance will grow your faith and empower your life on this side. You will live in this life as a citizen of God’s kingdom while on assignment for Him. When you are finally taken to your real life in heaven, the one that has been internally longing in you since the time you were born again, you will be joining your eternal family in your eternal home, as God’s adopted child. That is the real life that awaits you, and in this one, you are only in a temporary place. The one that is ahead is what Jesus has been preparing for you the last 2,000 years.
If you are convinced that God is speaking to you about looking at life through His perspective rather than the way this world has taught you, start asking Him right now to help you see it His way. He will tell you that the best is yet to come and to live like you believe it. I say again.