It has been a month since my last post. The festivities of Chinese New Year are now over. I never did like Chinese New Year much, with its overly sweet tidbits and overly annoying relatives. Growing up, I used to hate being dragged around by my parents in the sweltering afternoon sun to see old people whom I really could not care less about just so that they could compensate me for my hardship with a few red notes. This year, for the first time, it was my turn to dragged my poor 8 month old daughter to see old people whom she really could not care less about. Except at that age, she could just scream into their faces when they displeased her. Ironic really, but such is the cycle of life.
Solomon once said, "what is new under the sun?" Everything that we do, our efforts, our strivings, our boastings, will soon pass away like sandcastles in the incoming tide. We too will soon pass away. And the next generation will come after us. Our children, our next generation of church leaders, our successors in our ministries and our jobs. What can we do that is really worthwhile? Some build corporations and mansions. Others crave political position and the esteem of man. We change cars, change handphones, change houses, change our looks, change our jobs...all in search of that illusive goal that says that we have 'arrived'.
Then we think of eternity. Imagine if you will a piece of string that is stretched in front of us, from east to west, across the horizon, a string that extends and extends round the earth until it meets at the opposite end. That string is eternity, relentless, unending. Then imagine a little 1 cm red splotch of paint on that string. That is the 70, 80, 90 years of our lives. And then we are told that the decisions and choices we make on that little splotch of red will matter for all eternity. Suddenly all our vain strivings and ambitions on this little splotch of red begin to look rather silly, all our anxieties and our quarrels begin to look rather petty.
You see God has put eternity into our hearts such that our hearts will never be at rest in the temporal, in this little red splotch of time we have made our home. We have been created for things far more divine, far more glorious than to live and eat and die on this moving rock. You see, each of us has a destiny that is tied up with God Himself, a purpose that stems from the very heart of the Creator. It is only when we align ourselves with the Divine Will, that we transcend this temporal cage and touch the face of eternty.
But the decision to either align ourselves with the Divine Will or walk our own path to futility and destruction is one each of us must make. It is the choice between surrender or autonomy, obedience or license, the Spirit or the flesh, faith or unbelief. "Father let not my will be done but yours." "Into Your hands I commit my spirit". These are the words of one who has aligned himself with destiny. For only he who dares to step out beyond our sight and live by faith, is he who will step into the hands of He who holds eternity.