Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Fade Away and Radiate



So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.  -- John 8:38


Christ is the Rock.  The more we listen to the world, the more we focus on the shifting sands of opinion, of popularity and politics, news and celebrity, the more disoriented we become.  The more lost we become.  The web of lies gets thicker and harder to navigate the farther we get from the Source of truth.  In the fog, we find ourselves chasing images and apparitions.  We are deceived by semblances of a truth we glimpsed somewhere closer to home.  Following it, we are only led deeper into the tangle where the air thickens into a noxious miasma that further confuses our thinking.

Yet even in the midst of confusion and deception, reality is always near at hand.  Stillness can still be found.  The outward turmoil and the pressures of  pretense we endure are part of our strengthening. We are, as we live in this world – except for a very few who knowingly and willingly choose to remain, growing and gaining strength to bear that “eternal weight of glory” that will be the new robe we will wear. 

Here we cloak ourselves in shadows.  Back home, we will wear light that radiates from a body more solid and real than we can now imagine.  Arnold in his prime will look like an unstuffed scarecrow in comparison.  We are wont to say, The older I get, the better I was, but age and physical infirmity are just a wearing away of the old clothes.   

Should I go buy a fine, new suit and put it on, only to cover it with the filthy rags and remains of my old, worn-out one?  We would think someone severely deluded who was so attached to worn-out clothes.   It is not just our bodies but our treasures, even our cherished opinions, our misplaced loyalties and loves, our false hopes and carnal desires – all these things are wearing away, becoming ever more gossamer, ever less confining and clinging as we pursue God, as we draw closer to the Solid Rock of Eternity. 

Be still and know. 

4 comments:

Rick said...

Your comment to ge a moment ago reminded me that I'd forgotten to say thanks for reminding me of this old Blondie song (the title to this post) that I used to like :-)

mushroom said...

You know, coming out of the death-by-disco era, hearing Blondie was like coming up out of the bomb shelter. I actually went out and bought the first album. I remember telling my wife when I heard one of the singles on the radio, "That's like rock-n-roll!"

mushroom said...

The syncoonicity is going to make my head explode. I had just finished typing that comment when I went back in the house and my wife was watching some television show where they were playing a cover version of "One Way or Another".

Rick said...

And "One way or another" of all titles!
It's gonna gitcha!