A Worthy Environment

By Robert A. Brown

[Page 55]

     She will be eighty-nine the last day of this year. She has known what most people would call hard times. Born in the l800's to a poor farm family, fed by a former slave when a child, married at sixteen and the mother of three children, the only thing life seems to have given her is many years. She lived in the small house her husband built in 1910 till just a few months ago when she had to go live with a daughter. She worked very, very hard for the majority of her life, had few luxuries that we look to as necessities; and now, has suffered a final heart-break before her beating heart stops. She had to leave the only house and home she had known in her lifetime because of failing health.

     Life hasn't been especially good to her. Only a handful of people in the world even know who she is. She is very tired. A weariness has settled that sleep will not avail. A lifetime of work and struggle is nearing an end and no person in accord with reality would possibly paint any picture except, that life hasn't been a fairy tale of joy and success for this old woman. What the world values she hasn't seen--fortune, fame, or power. Anything that resembled money was always distant, very few people knew her, and she had little influence even with the county politicians. Now she is in the last years of her life. Will this be all there is for this woman? Is she near the end? The End?

     In a society where we hurry at such a pace the funeral homes have put in drive-in windows, the ten-second hamburger is a reality, and the threat of death only comes from the heart or car or cancer, we just don't look for anything else. We're too busy! In all our misery we smile ourselves happy as we march on to anonymity. We must stop and evaluate life.

[Page 56]

p For what purpose are we here? Why go on? Why so much misery? Is it worth it? Above all, is this all there is? Now I reject the silly substitutes that men have offered and accepted as sufficient reason for enduring this vale of tears. Some say one can leave his mark, but the potential opportunity to leave my mark on the sands of time somehow isn't filling to my hungry soul. Given time, most men, even great men, are forgotten men, and even what is remembered about them is questionable. Given two hundred years for the average man, double that for the upperclass successful "got it made" person, a thousand years for the national leader and "old what's his name" has become "old what's his name"! You might say there are several you can remember, but that's the point, only a few. What about the unremembered millions who aren't even memories? Unacceptable!

     If I am an animal among animals, and only an animal, the logical response is to be an animal. Selfish sensuous pleasure, whatever and wherever it leads is the logical response. But the concluding action is so repugnant to me I cannot forever conduct myself so. Unacceptable, and a betrayal to man's higher ancestry. But I accept one answer as reasonable, actual, and motivating. That answer is another life, a life after death. It is reasonable to endure, in fact, enjoy this life in part, if there is to be a next life where right will be rewarded, wrong righted and punished, agony relieved, and hopes realized. I can see the sense of keeping on if there is a purpose for keeping on, and to know of a better, grander existence would give me that purpose. What purpose? To reach that place, to see it by sight and not by faith. This makes sense to me; a better place, a rest and a reward. Were this actual, then action could reasonably and logically be initiated.

     I am convinced of the actuality of this existence. Evidence convinces me that a person, named Jesus the Christ, was God in the flesh, suffered actual death, overcame same and was resurrected. This same person made direct statements concerning such an existence. He inspired through the Holy Spirit certain other men who elaborated on what would in itself give me reason for living, even dying. Sufficient evidence has persuaded the jury of my mind to pronounce guilty the claim of "life after death!" It is real!

     Above all, this is highly motivating. Upon examination of statements concerning the type of existence after this life I find a yearning within, a strong longing for just such a place. More testimony causes a dread fear of the counterpart to the promise that is so appealing. The reality of Hell negates certain actions on my part I have reason, hope for living now that can cause me to go on with life in a constructive way. There is no need to throw it, snow it, amidst the crumbling clay. I can smile in adversity, be just in the midst of injustice, amount to nothing in men's eyes, if I know I adhere to the requirements for admission to this most worthy environment.

     The necessity, the reasonableness, the actuality, the motivating force of the resurrection from the dead are beyond compare. When my skin wrinkles, my body slows down, my faculties wane, my tissue deteriorates, my accomplishments amount to nothing in society's eyes, there will be no haunting questions of why, why, why! I will know why. God has been preparing a place for me and preparing me for it.

     The possibility of any life after death is stimulating but the description of the life after death offered to followers of the Galilean is downright fantastic. It's extraordinary and beyond imagination. In this life it is seen dimly and in terms of limited meaning. A handful of words cannot describe this world's creations much less the next world's splendid exhibits. Though we can only see dimly and don't need to know all about what will be, the Author of Life has meant for us to see enough to whet our appetites. I like to think of what will be there and what won't be there.

     The last chapters of God's revelation through John give the best description of the surroundings we will experience. It

[Page 57]

will be the garden of Eden restored and magnified. What is rare, sought by all, and possessed by few, will be common, sought by none and possessed by all. What most men die for and never possess, his men will live among but care less. God was doing his best to describe it when He put it in physical terms. A City of Gold, surrounded by walls of Jasper, illuminated by the Light of His presence, cooled by the river of Living Water, fed by the tree of life; it is just too much for us to comprehend right now. We gasp at the magnificence of the Grand Canyon and the man-made Astrodome. We marvel at the moon flight and the intricate, delicate minute "had to be created" organs and organisms within our own body; we shall surely stand with hanging jaws when God reveals His new creation. The longings of a lifetime will be satisfied for an eternity, the aspirations of the greatest mind will be numbed by the super-abundance yet simplicity of God's gift, the poorest formerly, will walk on pavement material that governments now keep in vaults. But wait, there is more than just surroundings to marvel at and ponder for an eternity.

     The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians probably tells best what we ourselves will be like. Just as there is a new name written down in glory and it's mine, there will be a new body for me and it's mine. What it will be like even the God-inspired Paul didn't venture but rest assured it will be better. Just as seed corn is dropped in the ground and sprouts the tall green stalk, just as the acorn becomes the oak, we will be planted by death to become, at the resurrection, a far better and more meaningful creature outwardly. No more birth defects, no more ailing bodies, no more aches and pains and debilitating diseases. The curse of Adam, the death process, will be reversed. Oh happy day, when we shall experience by sight what we accept by faith. A new body to travel God's new creation. Further speculation leads to areas only God has knowledge of but someday we shall see and be. But there is more than new surroundings and a new body.

     Every chapter of the Bible adds flavor to the next dish of God's festal preparations. There are men of God today that I admire, men that I haven't been able to talk with and share with that I long to just sit down with and talk, talk, talk. We shall see the King someday, together. Will an eternity be long enough to visit and share together as we rejoice and praise God? There are people of God that I have not and will not meet in this lifetime and the thought of meeting these new and exciting people of God overcomes any shyness on my part. There are men and women I know from the Bible pages that are as real as I am and again my friendship so limited now will then be face to face. I shall seek Moses out and clasp him to my breast and just hold him for a period of time where time shall be no more. Isaiah, David, Joshua, Sarah, Ruth, Paul, Peter, John, Amos, Priscilla and Aquilla; great men and women, wonderful men and women, and God's men and women. All of us love good fellowship, conversation and celebration with good people in this life. Can our heart stand it in the next? With these people, we shall enjoy the greatest thrill of all.

     He whom we've accepted, worshipped, prayed to, shared with, longed for, shall be ours. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will he the lighting for this new home and all the voices of time will acclaim the Name of the Most High. I seek to reach through the crowd and touch the hem of his heavenly garment, to look into those eyes that have cried for me. I ache to walk the banks of the river of life with the Author of Life. Don't worry about the crowd, he has time for all. Every tear will be wiped away, every vestige of sin and wickedness will be cast into the lake of fire with the Tempter gone forever. But there is more if there can be more. There will be an abundance of activities. Start a list of all the questions you will ask the Answer and see if you can find enough to occupy a period of time. All the questions that science has yet unanswered and answered wrong will

[Page 58]

then be answered and discovered as we grow and progress unhindered by the curse of sin. All the moral problems will be illuminated by the purest thoughts of God. Just the questions about the meaning of past murmurings of God in the Bible pages will be very interesting. Believe me there will be plenty to do.

     Lord willing, I will take the first thousand years (where years are not numbered) and just look at Him. rm confident He won't bore or disappoint me in sight when He hasn't bored or disappointed me by faith. God have mercy on our poor limited minds and impatient souls. Give us a taste of that Heavenly resting place now that we might labor and long for that final rest which is not a tomb.

     Incidentally, there is no mile you must run, no mountain you must climb to fulfill the requirements for admission to such a place. There is no creed written or unwritten that you must adopt to place your feet on the right and your name in the Book of Life. There is just one thing that separates you and me from all that can fulfill and it's not a thing inanimate, it's a life-giving, life-possessing person, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, and the Atonement for your sins. You are only asked to appropriate His death as your death, accept by faith his Lordship over your life, be covered and raised in water in the likeness of his life and death and follow him. The promise is to all that love his appearing.

     She will he eighty-nine the last day of this year. She is close to the end but not The End. She is a Christian, a bona-fide one. She gets discouraged but she has been steadfast through it all. She's ready when He's ready. She hasn't had much but she will have everything, and besides she has had one thing that sustains. Hope! She has stood on the promises, built on the rock, decorated with the fruits of the Spirit, and been prepared for eternal dominion with God. A most worthy environment.

     (Robert A. Brown can be addressed at Route 2, La Cygne, Kansas 66040).