I would like to take a moment first and respond to Mike's comment and song. I remember that song too growing up. Unfortunately, the only words I could understand were in the title of "Joy and Pain". I just found the lyrics and it has probably been like twenty years since I listened to that song.
Joy And Pain
Frankie Beverley And Maze
Remember when you first found love how you felt so good
Kind that last forever more so you thought it would
Suddenly the things you see got you hurt so bad
How come the things that make us happy make us sad
Well it seems to me that
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Love can be bitter love can be sweet
Sometimes devotion and sometimes deceit
The ones that you care for give you so much pain
Oh but it's alright there both one in the same
Don't it seem we go through life going up and down
Seems the things that turn you on turn you around
Always hurting eachother if it ain't one thing its another
But when the world is down on you love's somewhere around
Well it seems to me that
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Over and over you can be sure
There will be sorrow but you will endure
Where there's a flower there's the sun and the rain
Oh and it's wonderful there both one in the same
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain
I like the line where there is a flower there is the sun and the rain. Sunshine and rain are so necessary for growth. Not all days are sunshine and not all days are storms. For a time in my life, early in my Christian life, I stayed away from secular songs, but over time I come to realize that there is truth written in songs in the secular industry. It is like the old saying and one that my professor ended with on the last day of class. "All truth is God's truth". I like the word picture of this song of the flower, sunshine, and rain. Thanks for sharing Mike.
The chapter title is quite interesting. It doesn't give you a clue as to what this chapter is about. You don't really figure it out until about the second page.
Wiersbe introduces the chapter by saying how he likes "last words". That is those words people say before they die. He talks about Napoleon's final words. "France--army- head of army!" There is also John Wilkes Booth. "Useless-- useless." And then British naval hero Lord Nelson. "Thank God I have done my duty.". All these are interesting to reflect upon, but the one that interests us the most is the Apostle Paul who recorded his words in prison in his letter to Timothy.
"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
There is confidence in Paul's final words. Wiersbe calls the three looks, looking around, looking back, and looking forward. We begin with looking around. Paul is ready. He knows his death is near. Wiersbe focuses on the word departure. Interestingly, he does not use the word death, but departure.
"It means, for one thing, to take down your tent and move on, the way a soldier would do when the army strikes camp. Paul saw himself as one of God's soldiers, living in a tent--his mortal body. He knew that death was simply taking down the tent and moving into glorious new quarters. Our bodies are just temporary dwelling places. When the Lord calls us home, we will receive marvelous new bodies, permanent houses, and we will have them for all eternity.
The word departure also means to loose a boat and set sail. This is what happens when a Christian dies-- he looses his moorings in this life and this world, and sets sail toward heaven and that eternal shore. Tennyson used this idea in his famous poem "Crossing the Bar." Paul knew that his death was simply a release. The prison was not his permanent home." (p. 21).
The release. This is not our home. We have a better, more glorious place. Paul knew that and seeing his present circumstance he was not afraid to set sail to this better place. The tent is another word picture. Tents are not permanent. Long ago I was a part of a 24-hour relay at the high school. We had teams of ten. Someone would provide two tents. When the event was over we took down our tents. They were never meant to stay there. So it is with our bodies. We have a perfect, glorified body that awaits us. Paul was totally ready to depart from this world. No reservations. No fears.
The second look is looking back:
"As Paul looked back, he saw that life had not always been easy There had been battles to fight, races to run, a stewardship to fulfill. He had fought the world, the flesh, and the devil in city after city, and now he was in his final battle at Rome. There were times when he thought he was going to fail, but the Lord had always brought him through. He could write, "I have fought a good fight."
He could also write, "I have finished my course." This had always been Paul's great desire: "That I might finish my course with joy, and the minist, which I have received of the Lord Jesus..." (Acts 20:24). Each of us has a course to finish. God has a place for each of us to fill and a work for each of us to do. Our times are in His hands. Some are allotted a shorter span for their work; others are given more time. Stephen died as a young man; Paul was permitted to live a longer life. But it is not the length of life that counts--it is the depth and strength of life. Paul had finished his course. He could face the Lord and know that his work had been completed." (p. 22).
Paul felt confident that he finished well. Sure, for all of us, there are temptations and disappointments. There are for everyone. The idea I think is where we stand at the end of our lives. We kept the faith. We stuck it out. We endured. That is where Paul finds himself as he looks over his life. God had been faithful. We are all entrusted with one life. My neighbor's daughter died at 21. Her husband just had his funeral last Saturday and died at 67. Some have long lives, and some short. It is not the length of life, but what we do with it. I think my biggest struggle is discouragement when things seem like there is no hope. My joints are really in bad shape and no one knows the cause or treatment. I send out application after application and don't hear back. I'm not sure if at all I can do anything.
Wiersbe asks a series of penetrating questions. Have we fought a good fight? Do we feel like a victor or victim? Are you still in the battle or a casualty? Have we kept the faith? Have we done the will of God from our heart? These are series questions that deserve honest reflection. These questions have the idea of perseverance. Personally, I have made it day after day but I don't feel like a victor. The third and final look is to look forward.
"Some people, when they approach the end of life, are afraid to look ahead. The Bible warns us, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). But Paul had no fears as he looked ahead. He knew just what would happen: he would meet the Lord and receive from the Lord the crown that he had earned.
There is no peace like the peace we have in our hearts when we know the future is secure. Paul's faith was not in Roman justice or law, as great as they might be. His faith was not in his many friends, or even in himself. His faith was in the Lord. He looked back without regret; he looked around without fear; and he looked ahead without doubt or apprehension because he trusted in Jesus Christ. Rome would register him as a criminal, but in the Lamb's Book of Life he would be listed as a child of God. And he would hear from his Savior, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant .... "
One day life is going to end for you and me. None of us knows the day or the hour, and for some it may be sooner than expected. Our home-going may be sudden; or we may have time to contemplate life as Paul did in that Roman prison. I trust that all of us will be able to look in these same three directions and come out with the same ringing testimony that Paul gives in this last letter that he ever wrote. Yield your heart and life to Jesus Christ. Be faithful to Him, no matter what men may do. The important thing is not the praise of men; it is the approval of God." (pp. 23-24).
Prayer,
Father, what wonderful words of a man about to die. He is so confident in where he will be. He looks back without regret and looks forward without fear. We are asked some very serious questions here. Paul faced very difficult circumstances and he made it to the end and kept the faith. I am about half as old as Paul when he was executed and want my testimony to be like Paul. I want to do Your will with confidence and faithfulness. I desire a strong and deep faith, unshaken by life's challenges. I confess that is not easy and I feel so often quite discouraged at my present circumstances. Remind me that You walk with me moment by moment, day by day through these difficulties.
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