Living Life Backward, Bye For Now

It is hard to believe it is already practically March. The days are ZOOMING by! I remember when I was young, my dad would tell me, “Just wait ‘til your my age” – LOL. Rick and I just finished reading through “Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End,” by David Gibson, alongside a Sunday morning equipping class with our church, and it was sooooo good! We want to share some nuggets of truth, in the hope that you might also thirst more for the eternal and live, in that perspective. “Your death and the judgment to follow-the great fixed points of your life-are the very things that can reach back from the future into today and transform the life God has given you to live” (162).

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Vanity does not mean everything is meaningless, but, rather, ‘everything under the sun,’ is brief and quickly fading, much like a vapor or mist. On earth, there is “nothing to be gained” (23), and “life has a repetitiveness [and inevitable death] built into it which we are not meant to try to escape” (30). Everything will pass from our hands, including our very lives - no one is promised tomorrow. You may be asking yourself, as we were, how then can and should we live? “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)? When first coming to this verse, I was a bit confused. Upon further examination, it became a source of conviction. All that we have, work to do and experience, is funneled through the loving and gracious hand of God. “God has given the good things of this world to us, and they are their own reward…Death reorients us to our limitations as creatures and helps us to see God’s good gifts right…the world cannot be leveraged to suit me, and life is meant to be enjoyed not mastered” (46). It is easy for us to come to friendships and think what can we gain from this individual, or how can we benefit? With respect to preparing for missions in 2023, we can be so fixed on what is ahead, without even savoring the banquet before us. However, when we acknowledge all that we have has been gifted from the King of Kings, we can more fully enjoy and appreciate what is presently before us. “We all know what it is like to have tasted the best life has to offer and still to be left wondering what comes next…God has to give us enjoyment, or the thing itself will leave us unsatisfied” (46).

2017 Anniversary trip to Rome

Ecclesiastes addresses the fleshy desire to be in control. “…death can change us from people who want to control life for gain into people who find deep joy in receiving life as a gift…gift, not gain” (37). I am a planner, by nature. I have check-lists, reminders and calendars, you name it. ‘We are constrained by time and the seasons, predetermined by God’ (52-56). The reminder that even the minutes and breath in our lungs are given by and for the Lord, is a good and sobering one. “When you worship God’s gifts, they will never ever deliver what they promise and instead will leave you empty and broken” (115). It is alarming how subtle it can be to idolize schedules, possessions, happiness and even ministry, yet, “…you cannot know all things completely” (104). God is the only one who can always deliver on His promises, be right on time and allow for things to go exactly as planned. “He makes everything beautiful in its time…[one] cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God is not constrained by time or limited knowledge. “…in the Bible God has given us enough explanation to set us building, but only he has the master plan” (51). He alone is altogether sovereign, omnipotent and omniscient. Our response? Obedience and surrender – a ‘Child-like faith’ (58) – to a worthy and perfect Father.

Perspective for how to live is also gained by looking death in the face. “Death is the fulfillment of life…I [David Gibson] wonder what difference it would make to your life if you believed that there were worse things than dying…Putting one foot in the grave is the way to plant the other on the path of life” (95, 129, 134). As Christians, we believe we will see Jesus face to face, but how do we see the face of death we must cross, before arriving to that of Christ’s? “Stop trying to escape life’s agonies by drowning them away, by laughing them off and pretending they don’t exist…the wise person sits in the funeral home and stares at the coffin and realizes that one day it will be his turn…” (96-97). This past Sunday I got the news of a close Pastor-friend, Alan Rosenburg, that went home to be with the Lord. He was ZEALOUS for God, and he had this perspective. I hope to never forget two phrases he would say often, “I am going to live forever” and “bye for now.” He knew if death were to separate us physically, he would go to heaven and we would one day be reunited. “For if death is not your lord and does not own you-it never, ever can be if you are in Christ-then it can teach you” (98). Death can teach us. In his 90s and still preaching every Sunday, I have learned so much by watching his example. “…death is the limit God has placed on creatures who want to be gods…It is only because of his mercy that I am not consumed today…from the day I was born I lived under the sentence of death…” (109).  

Because of our finite bodies, one can now live in both confidence and humility. “…where we are now is not where we will always be…” (60). I am so thankful life ebbs in seasons – seasons of great harvest, famine and toil, etc, and the best is yet to come (Romans 8:18-25). It is an encouragement to, “Live the life you have now instead of longing for the life you think you will have…” (73). When I was little, I thought I would be an attorney. Studying Political Science, I knew that was not what I wanted. And I never could have imagined the desire to be a missionary - to the praise of His Glory! The one prediction we can bank on is ‘entering through the Wicket Gate into the Celestial City’ (we just started reading John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress). Death itself is a reminder that, “…we are not mini-gods, and this is his creation, not ours…it is only God who knows exactly where everything is meant to go, in which order, at what time, and why” (62). And yet, “…the one person I am always acutely aware of is me” (65). This was another one of those sharp two-edged sword moments. Instead, we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves and share all we have freely received. “God’s good world is there to be enjoyed in relationship with others…The gifts are from the real country. They smell and taste and feel like home [heaven]” (116-117). In spite of these truths, our flesh and the world can have us questioning and feeling a sense of entitlement: “You do not have as much as you might like, but you know that you have more than you deserve” (77). Deserving of wrath, God gives us grace, because of the humility of His son. May we be able to confess, “To draw near and listen is better…for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words [and demands] be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

 

June 2011, CSUSB Graduation, Master of Public Administration, desiring to serve in local government 
April 2012, on my way for an interview in Oakland, CA, door closed, break up & full surrender to Christ shortly after

This world and our hearts are desperately wicked. “Left to our own devices, we think about life from the perspective of youth, beauty, success, career, and personal happiness” (120). Or as the apostle Paul rhetorically asked and answered, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this death? I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25). While this life and things in it are passing away, we can freely enjoy God's merciful gift of sending His beloved son, giving all we need for life and godliness. And if that was not enough, He lavishes His children and even the lost, every day with exceedingly abundantly beyond bare necessities. I do not have to be in control, know all things or be in perfect health to experience joy in all that I do have, and I can look to death as another season, ushering me into the fulfillment of all my hope - finally beholding and standing in the presence of my Lord. I am confident in the completed work at the cross that was done fully, in my place, and I can now share all that I have and hope for freely with others, knowing that all I have has been received. “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). “We can labor for Christ while we live, and we can live with Christ when we die” (162). My prayer is that by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, we may see all that we have - time, talents and treasures - has been abundantly given by the Creator to enjoy and share, for His purposes, until we are called home to give an account and for the first time enjoy forever. Bye for now...