Day 15: Standing in Eternity
Zechariah 4:12-13
12And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these(W) two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil[a] is poured out?” 13He said to me,(X) “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14Then he said,(Y) “These are the two anointed ones[b] who stand by(Z) the Lord of the whole earth.”
Today is Monday. On the road, preaching the Gospel, Monday means little, but here it means back to the long hours of editing footage from our first missionary journey, raising lots of money, and preparing tons of teachings that will help people understand how important they are to God and to this suffering world. We’re on a deadline too. We are about to get our plane tickets for September, locking us into a certain departure date for our next missions journey and our move to Thailand. So Monday means work, but it’s not like it used to be.
I remember back in the day when I worked for an I.T. firm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Every Friday when the clock struck five my friend Nick and I would play “Eye of the Tiger” and imagine ourselves running down the stairs of the office, busting out of the doors, and throwing our hands high in the air like Rocky. We had knocked out another week. We were victorious. Then Monday came, and we were trying to get ourselves motivated for another round. We were to spend our time making websites for other people while we dreamed of better things. It was fine for a while, then one day the Lord spoke to me and told me to go on a missions trip to Indonesia. After that, I hated being there, even on Friday. It seemed with every tick tock of the time clock I got more and more discontent with my life. Before long I had to kick myself to be sure my work wouldn’t suffer. I was reading wikipedia all the time: ‘The Culture of Indonesia’, ‘How to Live in Indonesia on a Budget.’
I was a mess. Then the day came and off I went. I had the time of my life and helped a ton of people. I learned that life wasn’t about survival, but abundant living in love for god and others. This is where God was leading me, to the broken, and where his presence is is where there is fullness of joys. (Psalms 16:11). Coming home it was working in a church, which was better until it became a mostly office job. I recall one day I was sitting there, the Lord already pulling me back to the mission field. I was listening to the meetings in the office next to mine and feeling SO fed up. Nothing they were doing, it was all about what we had become. The ink color of meetings had been spilled all over my calendar. I’d go be with the youth, preach my heart out, spend time with them, have a summer internship, and it was great, but then it was back to the meeting room. Yay. I sat there that day and just wanted to win someone to the Lord for myself. I wanted to share the Gospel in an organic way for goodness sake. We were leading people to know the Lord but all of us who were Pastors at one time know the truth, even if we don’t always say it: The credit for such salvation goes to Christ first, then the friend who invited them to come to church in the first place, then the grandmother who has been praying for them, then the person who spoke to them to make them feel comfortable. We just get up there and preach the simplest, yet most powerful message. The message is s powerful it could be delivered by someone who with B.O., a stuttering problem, and bad motives and peoples lives would be changed. It is the Gospel, the power of salvation for ALL men. We really aren’t that amazing. You brought them to hear it, we do the easy part. Now that’s honest.
So I stood up that day and walked right out of the office. Down the stairs I trotted. Out the locked doors. Right onto the streets. We were in the neighborhood most dodge; I loved it. There, standing by the church was a man with a slight limp (not on purpose).
“Hey, how ya doin man?” I asked in my best street slur.
“I’m aight.”
“Cool. I’m Dustan, nice to meet you. I work at this church.”
“That’s cool. I’m ______.”
“Hey man, can i ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Has anyone, like a pastor or anyone ever say down with you and just explained the Gospel? I mean like what it means when we say Jesus died for you so you could be saved? Ever wonder why we need to be saved and why God’s so mad?”
“Nah, I don’t think anyone’s ever really explained. I mean i been to church.”
“Yeah me to,” I said as we laughed. “But I just wonder if you’d like me to explain it where it will make sense. I know you heard this stuff. This is Mississippi.”
“Yeah sure.”
“Cool, come on in.”
We came in. Sat down. Had a fun conversation. Thirty minutes later a new man walked out of the office. Clean and set on the path of a new life. It was awesome.
Only months later Darlene and I stepped on a plane to find more people who had never heard. We spent fourteen months surrounded millions of people just like the friend I met on the street.
When I was reading this scripture this morning it really jumped out at me. I had the normal questions, who are these two guys standing besides the Lord, are they the two witnesses? I have my solid opinions about these things, but that was not what was getting to me. It was that they were standing BESIDES the Lord of the whole Earth. They stood there, aligned with Him and his purpose. They were shoulder to shoulder with Christ (whom took Adams place as Lord of the Earth), in perfect agreement with their King. In my minds eyes I see Aragorn leading the march with Gimli and Legolas at his heels. That’s where I want to be. On his side, where he is. When I die I want to be able to stand next to Christ knowing that my loyalties were to Him and His purpose of loving the lost, leaving the 99 for the one lost sheep, going to a people who can do nothing to pay him back in order to see them saved. I want what I have done to stand in eternity because it honors the noble heart of eternity’s master.
These mondays are still Mondays. But after I beat my flesh I know I am no longer working just to survive. I’m not living to work, I am working to live. I am alive like never before because I AM doing what I was meant to do. His dreams over time became my desires, and now he is giving these desires into my heart (Psalms 37:4). It’s as my U.K. friends would say, “Brilliant.” Most of us want to do something of value but a million factors keep us from chasing the dreams the Lord has put in our heart. Each of us have different desires, but those who have let the Lord mold them, those desires are the hint of our God given purpose. It takes courage. But in the end, are we doing anything that will matter when we stand beside Jesus, the one who gave his all for our rescue? Better make it count. Better live today.
Just some thoughts to ponder. I’ll leave you with one last sentence as I head off to start work. Remember these next words for God spoke them to me and they changed my life forever.
Life is a vapor. Here one day, gone the next.
