The Goal
The Goal 6 September 2010
There is no point of running from church to church. Instead we should be running with the churches towards Christ from whom we came and to whom we aim to return.
No church is perfect, and we all agree. We can find fault with our own church, and talk about how much better it could be. We may go so far as to fantasize about leaving and finding the church that meets all our needs.
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, says the following about being realistic in your expectations of the church,
“Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.”
As a part of the kingdom of God, and until the day Jesus’ return, nothing on this earth will meet the ideal. An ideal is an image of perfection, and God is that image. Only in His presence does imperfection disappear. We are made in His image and will come face to face with Him again, on Judgment Day. He has said to us,
“…where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13. 8-12)
Everything will end one day. And one day even the evidences of the Holy Spirit will be gone. The abstractions like knowledge will die too. No matter how much we study or how much we experience in this lifetime, we will never know enough. We can never know everything. And even if one human being learnt everything there was to learn with 100% of his brain capacity, he too will one day die along with all his knowledge.
On earth, we are like mere children who talk, think and reason in an incomplete way. Only on the day we meet God face to face will we become adults in our souls. Only then will we not be children anymore. We shall look in the mirror – into the truth who is God – and see who we really are. And when we look into that mirror, we will be looking into the eyes of God. Hallelujah! We will have returned to our Maker, if we choose to return to Him now.
In the name of Jesus, I accept that the reality is imperfect, and I know that there is an ideal, and I am striving for it. My Father tells me to pursue the paths of righteousness. But His paths are no walk in the park. Instead He describes it as a race.
“…since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
So that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons.”
(See Hebrews 12.5-6)
“Do you not know,” it says in 1 Corinthians 9.24, “that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?” “Run in such a way,” the Scripture encourages us, “as to get the prize.” “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training,” it says. “They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it got get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” We are running the race to receive the crown of eternal life.
It is mature to live with the tension that exists between the present and the future, between the graveyard and the garden, between the reality and the ideal. Right now we are children of God, but when Jesus returns, we will come face to face with our Heavenly Father who created us in His image, and we will live in the garden of Eden once more, and meet the ideal.
God tells us first to get ready, then to be steady, and then to go! And when he fires that shot, the race really begins. We run that race for the sake of a prize, the crown of eternal life. And when we grow weary on that path, realizing it is not a 200m sprint but a marathon, it is then that we need to remember God, who became flesh, and ran the race to receive the crown of glory. If he had not done it, He could not now pass it to us. The prize is in God’s hands even as we speak, so for those who are running the race, persevere! And for those who have not entered, get ready!
There is no point of running from church to church. Instead we should be running with the churches towards Christ from whom we came and to whom we aim to return.
No church is perfect, and we all agree. We can find fault with our own church, and talk about how much better it could be. We may go so far as to fantasize about leaving and finding the church that meets all our needs.
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, says the following about being realistic in your expectations of the church,
“Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.”
As a part of the kingdom of God, and until the day Jesus’ return, nothing on this earth will meet the ideal. An ideal is an image of perfection, and God is that image. Only in His presence does imperfection disappear. We are made in His image and will come face to face with Him again, on Judgment Day. He has said to us,
“…where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13. 8-12)
Everything will end one day. And one day even the evidences of the Holy Spirit will be gone. The abstractions like knowledge will die too. No matter how much we study or how much we experience in this lifetime, we will never know enough. We can never know everything. And even if one human being learnt everything there was to learn with 100% of his brain capacity, he too will one day die along with all his knowledge.
On earth, we are like mere children who talk, think and reason in an incomplete way. Only on the day we meet God face to face will we become adults in our souls. Only then will we not be children anymore. We shall look in the mirror – into the truth who is God – and see who we really are. And when we look into that mirror, we will be looking into the eyes of God. Hallelujah! We will have returned to our Maker, if we choose to return to Him now.
In the name of Jesus, I accept that the reality is imperfect, and I know that there is an ideal, and I am striving for it. My Father tells me to pursue the paths of righteousness. But His paths are no walk in the park. Instead He describes it as a race.
“…since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
So that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons.”
(See Hebrews 12.5-6)
“Do you not know,” it says in 1 Corinthians 9.24, “that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?” “Run in such a way,” the Scripture encourages us, “as to get the prize.” “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training,” it says. “They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it got get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” We are running the race to receive the crown of eternal life.
It is mature to live with the tension that exists between the present and the future, between the graveyard and the garden, between the reality and the ideal. Right now we are children of God, but when Jesus returns, we will come face to face with our Heavenly Father who created us in His image, and we will live in the garden of Eden once more, and meet the ideal.
God tells us first to get ready, then to be steady, and then to go! And when he fires that shot, the race really begins. We run that race for the sake of a prize, the crown of eternal life. And when we grow weary on that path, realizing it is not a 200m sprint but a marathon, it is then that we need to remember God, who became flesh, and ran the race to receive the crown of glory. If he had not done it, He could not now pass it to us. The prize is in God’s hands even as we speak, so for those who are running the race, persevere! And for those who have not entered, get ready!
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