The River of Life

Sometimes life flows and you just go with it. Other times there's a bend in the river and you are taken off track from where you thought you were headed. And sometimes there is a sudden increase in speed and you find yourself breathless from trying to keep your head above the water. Every once in a while, there's a pool where you can just be calm and still.

No matter what the flow is like, even, twisting and turning, tumultuous or limpid, I find it changes me along with its changes. I can only but trust those changes are what have been divinely appointed for me.

For I have no control over the river of life. I know it begins, has a constant ebb and flow, sometimes floods and other times trickles, and still other times falls over the cliff in a waterfall deluge... all leading to the end.

What happens then I cannot but imagine. I only know that my God has promised to never leave me or forsake me. I only know that He holds my times in His hands. I only know that He loves me with an everlasting love. This is enough for me.

What is past is past, what is present is present, what is to come is a mystery that thrills my soul to think about it. This life is not the end-all, be-all. It is only my soul's journey to my soul's destination: my home in heaven with my beloved Savior and Lord Jesus.

More and more I think about that place that He is preparing for me, and I yearn for it with earnest. I have been blessed with many things and much love in this life. But none of it compares to what I will be blessed with when I see my God face to face; when I will be like Him. Those who don't know Him or doubt Him or deny Him cannot understand this home of which I speak; this hope that carries me from day to day, this promise to one day be united with Him for all eternity. But that's alright.

Each one must come to terms with Jesus on their own and in their own time. But each one will, eventually. Each one will bow their knees and each one will verbally confess with their mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. It will happen. I only pray that they have come to know Him as the Lover and Redeemer of their souls and the Lord of their lives by that time.

Every day the world gets darker with violence and ungodly remedies for life. Every day the worst comes out in man. It is not anything new, it is just amplified by our technology and our culture. Our lifestyles smack of selfishness and greed. People are made homeless paupers by the greed of the rich who are insatiable in their quest for more riches. Nobody cares about God anymore. Not like before. It's different. They deny Him. They mock His people. They laugh to scorn anything having to do with Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. The One Who came so that they could be forgiven through His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary; shed blood and poured out life for the sins of the world; all because of His undying love for us.

But they are not interested in acknowledging their sin. They want their way. As we all did before we knew the truth of who we are (those of us who have believed on Jesus Christ to the saving of our souls). We are hopeless and eternally lost without Him. Because we always want our way. And our way is the way of death. There is no hope for the one who denies God. Even the demons know God is who He says He is... and they tremble.

The Bible is an amazing book... because it is the very Word of God. The letter written by men, inspired by the Holy Spirit... which conveys who God is, what He has done, and what He will do. Anyone who reads it with an open heart, with a thirst for knowledge of the truth... they will find God. The One true living God. One who reads it any other way will not. They will find themselves growing angrier and angrier as they are faced with the truth of their own sin (because truth is truth), but they will not accept it. Their hearts will be hardened and grow cold to the point of no return. Those are the ones who have sealed their own fate. They do not choose freedom, truth, liberty, forgiveness and eternal life through the confession of their own sin and their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior. They instead choose their own way. If one does not choose eternal life, then one chooses eternal judgment for their sins. The only way to escape that judgment is to admit that they are sinners, admit they need forgiveness and accept Jesus and His gift of eternal life. That's all they have to do.

But we are all stubborn, willful and prideful. We are lost in our own folly without the light of God in our lives. Thank God He is persistent and continues to beckon us and draw us to Him with cords of lovingkindness. Oh, that man would give thanks to God for His mercy endures forever!