Tirian, with his head against Jewel’s flank, slept as soundly as if he were in his royal bed at Cair Paravel, till the sound of a gong beating awoke him and he sat up and saw that there was firelight on the far side of the stable and knew that the hour had come. “Kiss me, Jewel,” he said. “For certainly this is our last night on earth. And if ever I offended against you in any matter great or small, forgive me now.” “Dear King,” said the Unicorn, “I could almost wish you had, so that I might forgive it. Farewell. We have known great joys together. If Aslan gave me my choice I would choose no other life than the life I have had and no other death than the one we go to.”
~From The Last Battle
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in 1 Corinthians 15
Oh beloved, it is true. We are tired. We are men and women who are in the battle. But, we keep watching the casualties. We keep watching people fail. We endure their anger. We taste the bitterness of their betrayal. We hope for – and cannot find – trust. And as much as we try to make it about others and their falling short, we do no better ourselves in so many ways.
But so much of this is really not so much about how people fail us, and how we fail them. So much more of what makes us tired is watching the ranks of the supposed faithful be mowed down by addiction and other flavors of self-destruction.
The friend we have tried to help, for years, takes one last shot, and breathes his last.
The brother we prayed for, for years, refuses the life he has been mercifully restored to.
The sister we cared for, for years, stays in the shadows of her pain and lets it take her away.
The cousin we loved, for years, allows the hurts of his life to take him to the place of suicide.
The kids we have hoped would return, for years, don’t.
The students we tried to reach, for years, maintain their depraved indifference about The Truth.
All of it seems so easy… If they would just surrender to Jesus, we say… but they don’t. And we watch life (or at least what they think is life) destroy the people around us. It is numbing. We nearly come to the place where we don’t care any more. And it is in this place that we realize we are in very real danger – nearly as great a danger as the people we are watching fail and fade away.
Stop beloved.
Just stop.
It’s worth it.
And no, this is not just a numbers game, where it is all worth it, just to have one or two come to the truth. We are not just hanging in there to find a couple of converts, or to have a few of the people we work with to succeed. This is something completely different.
We have come to find that life, real life, is not about results or failure or success. Life is the battle against death. And this battle has already been won in our lives. We have been set free to walk in freedom and to battle for other’s lives.
Can we see it? That these people succeed in finding this life really has nothing to do with us. Oh, it is not that we do not care. We most surely do. But, we have come to see that our part is not in converting anyone – or in seeing them do better than others. Our part is (and it is the only part where we can actually make a difference) to Live the life He has given us.
So, are you tired of the lack of results in your ministry or life of helping others? Maybe you are missing the point. And maybe, trying to make a difference in other’s lives is why you are so worn out. This is not your (or this fool of a writer’s) calling. Tonight is your night. Time to live His Life, that you and others might live.
