Heaven is not a resting place, where men may sleep out an eternity; there they rest not day nor night, but their work is their rest and continual recreation, and toil and weariness have no place there. They rest there in God, who is the center of their souls. Here they find the completion or satisfaction of all their desires, having the full enjoyment of God and uninterrupted communion with him. ~Thomas Boston (1676-1732) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. ~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Philippians 3 Oh beloved, it is true. We ache. We hurt. We are tired. We are, like Paul, prone to weep over the apathy of those around us who claim to be believers. We are, to put it bluntly, spent. The day is far spent. And the world is coming down around the ears of a believer who has committed himself to the great commission given him by his King. Everywhere we look, we often sense that the only emotion that makes any sense is discouragement or desperation or despair. Are you there? Keep going. Nee Tao Shu (Watchman Nee) was used by G_d to establish hundreds (perhaps thousands) of congregations throughout China. Many millions have been brought into the Kingdom through the work G_d did through this man. He is, perhaps, the most influential believer to have lived during the 20th century in Asia. He was persecuted, and jailed until his death in a Chinese prison. And this is one of the things that he said.
God must bring us to a point – I cannot tell you how it will be, but he will do it – where, through a deep and dark experience, our natural power is touched and fundamentally weakened, so that we no longer dare trust ourselves… At length there comes a time when we no longer ‘like’ to do Christian work – indeed we almost dread to do things in the Lord’s Name. But then at last it is that he can begin to use us.
~ Watchman Nee
We are not battling to make this world a better home. We are at war, and on a campaign to rescue billions from the worst death possible, and accompany them into a coming Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the most debilitating thing about the fight is that any success is: impossible.
And this is very good news.
Nee was onto something of which all the bondservants who wrote the Gospel were persuaded. Something within us must be reckoned dead: us.
Paul, and all the other writers of the Gospel all speak to the core of the Gospel: to be poor in spirit is to find the key to power – and Jesus is The Way.
We are indeed to spend ourselves. However, this fool of a writer believes that the reason is not that we might purchase more traction in gaining souls for the kingdom. No, we are to spend out the last of who we are, that we might finally become effective. For only at the end of our useless and vain attempts, will we finally tap into the Infinite and eternal Power needed to change person’s heart anyway. Jesus is The Only Way. There is no other way.
Can we see it? It was utterly impossible for us to change ourselves. And this we almost understand when we begin to understand grace. However, a corollary truth is often more difficult for us to grasp: We are exactly as unable to change others, as we are unable to change ourselves. So, not only is it Christ only Who can transform us, it is only Christ who can transform others and make us both into citizens of heaven. And in transforming us into citizens of heaven, He is already showing us what heaven is like.
Where Christ alone is our portion.
Where our work is our rest.
Where our joy is Him.
Where time and strategy are meaningless.
Where hope does not wax or wane.
Beloved, all of these things are how He is showing us to live right now. For this is how truly effective life is lived on earth, as it is in heaven. Oh! The good news of the Gospel just gets better every time you look at it!
FLY envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;
And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more then what is false and vain,
And meerly mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d,
And last of all, thy greedy self consum’d,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine
About the supreme Throne
Of Him, t’whose happy-making sight alone,
When once our heav’nly-guided soul shall clime,
Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,
Attir’d with Stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.
