Gtcotr/ws080311
It’s not where you begin the race, or even where you are along the way, but it’s where you end the race that matters.
Genesis 1
1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 ¶ Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Among the first lessons God teaches us about Himself is that He will not leave His children in darkness.
God never leaves His children on a bad note.
The world wants us to believe that we begin each day on our best foot and end on the worst. We even have our clocks set to begin each new day with the morning so that we start with what we believe is the best life has to offer – be it sunrise, birth or youth, and then it goes downhill from there.
However, the opposite is true when seen from God’s perspective. You see, it is God who saw the darkness and separated the light from that darkness and saw that the light was good. God ended His work with the day, in the light of the day and not the darkness of the night. This principal truth is plainly evident from each day’s concluding statement in Genesis.
Genesis 1:5 And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:8 And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31 And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
And on the seventh day God rested.
The days of rest are designed by God to be the best days of life.
The world wants to convince people that they have already wasted and/or lost their best years of their lives. They offer us empty and endless attempts to try and get them back. From Ponce de Leon’s “Fountain of Youth”, to the commercials we see on television selling anything and everything to preserve some element of youth – the world is obsessed with trying to stay young when young is not the end all be all many believe.
The world teaches and lives as though the morning is the beginning and the night is the end. However, God begins each day with the evening and ends it with light. God saves the best for last!
John 2:10 Saved the best wine until last.
Ecclesiastes 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
And indeed, when life is over we cease our labors and enter our rest as we welcome the new day with family around the table.
When Joseph was 40 years old he was ruler of Egypt, had two sons and was restored in relationship to his father and brothers. That year God fulfilled a dream He had given Joseph when he was only 17 years old. However, Joseph lived beyond that day for another 70 years afterwards.
One might imagine that Joseph’s greatest days were those 40 we read about in such detail in the scriptures. What an adventure it must have been to be used by God to save his whole family. But, I guarantee you that it was not the first 40 that were Joseph’s best years but rather the last 70.
Much of life is work but life as a whole is designed to bring us to years of pleasure. Stop fighting the years of enjoyment which are supposed to be the best years of life. Prepare yourselves to embrace the rest of your life.
Hebrews 4
1 ¶ Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest …
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
11 ¶ Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
Commentary & Conclusion:
Lamentations 3:27 It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
Psalms 30:5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
Job 8:7 Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.
Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
Revelation 21
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
God always brings us to, bathes us in, and leaves us with The Light.
Your greatest day is yet ahead!
We must stop living in regret and decide to enjoy the days ahead.
How do you measure success?
Noah preached 120 years without even one convert and yet we see him as successful.
Gideon began his speech to his army in front of 32000 men. By the time he finished talking 22000 deserted. Later Gideon whittled the remaining 10000 down to only 300 before he got to the first battle. Yet, we see Gideon, and his military strategies, as being successful.
Jesus did not consider Zacchaeus successful just because he was the richest sinner in Jericho.
Even Jesus was convicted of blasphemy and treason and was executed by the state at 33 years old without a friend willing to testify on His behalf. Yet He is the greatest success the world will ever know.
How do you measure success?
