Perhaps this quote from Shakespeare brings back memories from our school days. Perhaps we are still in a whirlpool of life, not recognising that it is passing us by. Have we realised this is not a dress rehearsal – it is the real thing.
Many are suddenly disappointed when they wake up to recognise their dreams and schemes have passed them by and the records are found wanting. Others are satisfied – but there is an emptiness, a void, and they know there is more. True fulfilment can be ours only when we realise that our greatest purpose in life is knowing Christ. Apart from Him there will be a continual searching for the key to fulfilment.
A well-known tv show portrays a health fanatic who claims that self had to be the centre of our life. Only when we put our dreams before anyone else will we be successful and fulfilled, he says. Oh yes, of course he is very wealthy and very popular. How sad for that man and the millions he is leading into an eternal hell. He has not even started to climb the first step onto the ladder of life – he is still in the first act where self is the centre.
Until our eyes are opened to the rebellion of self against God and cry out in repentance, until we recognise that Christ gave Himself up on Calvary that others might have life and be set free from sin and death, hell and torment, until we recognise life is not about "me" we will not find a purpose for life. It is only when we have come to the end of ourselves and recognise how wretched we are and cry out, "Oh wretched man that I am who can save me", that we can even start to seek for the answer.
Once we recognise we have been in rebellion against God and have been rejecting His free gift to be forgiven from our sins to repent and turn away from the former life and embrace Christ as our life, can we even start to move on into the fullness of the high calling God has for us.
Only when we come into the realisation that Christ is our life and His life is ours and His nature is formed in us can we start to recognise His love for others. His heart has become ours and we have a new set of values, eternal values that enhance many lives.
It is not an easy ride. There are battles and challenges, as self endeavours to remain on the throne. "We" have been in the drivers’ seat for so long "we" do not relent without a battle.
The battle cannot be won by others for us, there is no formula nor bribe that can be paid. We have to have an experiential relationship with Christ submitting to His ways and learning to be led by His Holy Spirit.
God’s ways are higher than our ways, but He made us. He has the blue print and the internal wiring for each one of us, so He must also know the best way we can function. The incredible excitement of knowing we have an eternal purpose, and the freedom and peace and joy that is ours now, gives us an ever-increasing desire to know Christ more.
Post published in: Lifestyle