“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

THERE IS NO AVOIDING OUR FUTURE APPOINTMENT TO BE JUDGED BY THE GOD WHO MADE US. When our lives have finally run out, we will die. And when that happens, “the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” Having been created by God, our spirits will return to Him. We will give account of ourselves. It is inevitable.

WE ARE CREATURES, OR CREATED BEINGS. If we simply “happened” to exist as a result of merely physical processes, then at some point we would cease to exist. But we didn’t just happen to exist; we were CREATED, and it is to our Creator that we will return. Where we are going has more than a little to do with where we came from!

WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO OUR CREATOR. To be personal beings is a truly awe-inspiring fact. It means that we bear RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS. Freedom of the will is a marvelous gift, and the use of it is something that we shall have to answer for at the end of our lives. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

By far the most important question in life is whether, having returned to God, we will be allowed to REMAIN with Him. If we leave this life in a right relationship with God, we will hear Him say, “Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:21). But if not, we will hear, “I never knew you; depart from Me” (Matthew 7:23).

Yet the anticipation of our return to God need not be fearful — it ought to be joyful. That prospect can’t be joyful if we spend the years of our sojourn here in selfish indulgence, disregarding the things of God, and in fact, it can’t be joyful if we simply live carelessly. But there is no reason why all of us can’t make the same deliberate choices that Paul did and be able to say what he said: “The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

“All days travel toward death, the last one reaches it” (Michel de Montaigne).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

NOTHING TESTS OUR CHARACTER ANY MORE THAN HAVING TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MOTIVES. When there is a good deed to be done, for example, our character is tested: will we do it simply to glorify God or will we do it “to be seen by men”? That is a hard choice — much harder than most of us are willing to admit.

Praise itself is not evil, of course, but there’s no denying that it has the potential to hurt us. Indeed, it’s a rare person who can receive more than a moderate amount of recognition and not have his or her attitude marred by it. That doesn’t stop us from wanting it, however. As Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Most of us would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

As for our motives, it’s hard to be honest as to what they really are. The desire to be noticed and recognized as having done something good can be so subtle that it can be our real motive at times when we would say that it isn’t. In a given situation, it’s difficult to see when the thing that we really want is to be praised.

Perhaps it is stating it too strongly to say that we want “to be seen by men.” But what about that word “recognized”? A little appreciative attention is an intoxicating thing. Once we’ve experienced it, even as children, it’s easy for that to become the payoff that we seek (be truthful now) in every transaction thereafter.

The needs of self, including the need to be appreciated, are not unimportant, of course. But God has set up reality such that SELF’S NEEDS ARE SATISFIED MOST FULLY WHEN WE PUT OUR PRIORITIES ELSEWHERE. Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED TO YOU” (Matthew 6:33).

So let’s be very honest. Why do we do what we do for God? Do we serve Him as faithfully in private as in public? If no one ever noticed or thanked us, would we be content simply to know that God had been glorified? And if so, would we then avoid the opposite sin: being privately smug, knowing that we are “big” enough to do what’s right even though nobody appreciates us?

“I cannot say ‘Thine is the glory’ if I am seeking my own glory first” (Anonymous).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5,6).

INTO EVERY LIFE SOME RAIN MUST FALL, AND EACH OF US HAS “SOWN” HIS SHARE OF TEARS. But God has made it possible that those who “sow in tears shall reap in joy.” We might wish the harvest time were already here, but that time is not yet. For all we know, it MAY be very near, and in fact, we are taught to live each day in the EXPECTATION of Christ’s return. But for now anyway, the harvest is still future. Rather than speculate or worry about the reasons for God’s delay of the harvest, we should enter willingly into these days of sowing, even if it is tears that must be sown. In the words of John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, “Thine is the seed time: God alone / Beholds the end of what is sown; / Beyond our vision weak and dim / The harvest time is hid with him.”

It takes faith, of course, to hold on to the confidence that the sowing of tears will be followed by a reaping in joy. On many days, it certainly doesn’t seem like things are going to work out that way. But we must choose to have the attitude of Paul: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

If we’re “reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13), that means we’re “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). For a while yet, THIS is the world where our work must be done and where, yes, our tears must be sown. But this world is not all there is. If we’ve obeyed the gospel of Christ and are living our lives in Him, then we’re moving toward a realm where our tears will give way to utter joy. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Beyond this vale of tears
There is a life above
Unmeasured by the flight of years
And all that life is love.
(James Montgomery)

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle” (Psalm 43:3).

IN AN AGE WHEN IT’S POPULAR FOR PEOPLE TO MAKE UP THEIR OWN SPIRITUALITY, IT’S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THE VITAL ROLE OF TRUTH. If God is an objective reality, then neither He Himself nor the path by which He may be approached are matters of subjective opinion. We are not at liberty (1) to set the terms of our own salvation or (2) to define anything as “worship” that tickles our fancy.

Yet this is the day of “feel good” religion. When it comes to God’s character, we envision Him in any way that is congenial to us, and when it comes to religious practice, we reject anything that does not stroke our self-image. Yet TRUTH is what we need, at all costs. Imagine yourself on the deck of the Titanic as it began to sink. It might have made you feel better to be told the ship wasn’t sinking and that everything was fine. But wouldn’t the TRUTH have been more valuable? As hard as it might have been to deal with reality, doing that would have been the only way to survive.

Spiritually, we are where we are right now because of “darkness.” The distorted versions of reality that our adversary has presented us with have darkened our understanding to such an extent that we’re incapable of finding our way back to God. The answer to David’s question, “Who can understand his errors?” (Psalm 19:12), is NO ONE — unless that person allows the light of God’s truth to dispel the darkness and reveal the way back home. Our prayer ought to be the same as William Cowper’s hymn: “O for a closer walk with God, / A calm and heavenly frame, / A light to shine upon the road / That leads me to the Lamb!”

It’s a wonderful truth that God can be known, and an even more wonderful truth that we can be redeemed from our sins and brought back to Him. But our redemption won’t be accomplished if we’re not willing to know God AS HE TRULY IS, and it’s primarily in the language of THE SCRIPTURES that He reveals Himself as He truly is. The only question is: what will we DO with this information?

“The sacred page is not meant to be the end, but only the means toward the end, which is knowing God himself” (A. W. Tozer).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com