gladness

At this point in your life, you’ve probably been asked one or both of these questions:

If you were told you were to die tomorrow, what would you do?
If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do tonight?

They are two different scenarios. The first sees life moving forward for the rest of the world without you in it. The second is a complete destruction of all we know. For me, however, the answers are both the same. I would gather my family and others that I love. We would spend time in prayer asking God to sustain us through the trial so that we would see His face at our end. I would want us to gather in laughter, remembering all the wonderful times God has provided us throughout our time together. We would eat a scrumptious meal, most likely prepared by my husband, enjoy good wine, and pray some more.

Here’s the thing, we should always assume these two questions are a distinct possibility. That is, if we truly believe the message of the Bible. First, we will all die, just as we have seen in earlier chapters of Ecclesiastes. It’s not if but when. For every single one of us. Secondly, if it’s not the rapture coming upon us then we should be honest that the world is now filled with weapons that could easily kill us all. Does this mean we live every day in fear of these two truths? No, but truth can and should set us free to live in reality.

^“All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.” Ecclesiastes 9:2

That “common destiny” is the evil we call death. So, what do we do with this truth? We live each day serving the one true God and live in gladness.

^“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.⁸Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-8

Gladness is not hedonism. Gladness is not escapism. Gladness isn’t folly. You could easily imagine, in fact movies and books have taken the “if the end were tomorrow what would we do” topic and shown us the possibilities the unrighteous might take. Some might go on drug, alcohol or sexual benders. Getting blotto to ease their fears or pain. The age-old “eat and drink because tomorrow we might die” path toward annihilation. It’s a twisting of the message found throughout Ecclesiastes. Other might go on a theft and destruction rampage. That thinking shines the light on people who live without wisdom or God.

Why shouldn’t we think this way? I mean your life is about to end, right? Let’s remember the times when Moses and Abraham negotiated with God to save their people.

^“Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not sparethe place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”  Genesis 18:23-26

^“But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.” Exodus 32:11-12

So here you are, you’ve committed every sin possible against man and God the night before you are to die and suddenly a righteous person pleads for mercy on the world’s behalf. The ungodly will surely find themselves on the wrong side of that historical moment. Or maybe that person is praying for your healing because you have been personally given that death sentence. Will God abide or will He see justice done?

That’s what the “fear of God” is about. Knowing there is a presence higher than us who will one day serve justice to all. Do we love God and therefore want to live our lives in service to Him? Or do we grieve the Holy Spirit daily, hourly even, and turn our backs on Him?

^“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. ⁶Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

Until the day we actually die we still have time. Time to submit ourselves over to the Lord Most High. Time to reconcile with loved ones. Time to give out mercy and forgiveness in abundance. Time to enjoy our lives with gladness. Because once your time is up, the dead have no such chances.

Joy is the serious business of heaven.”
C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcom

Rejoicing our lives in gladness means we make the most of every moment. We make as many everyday moments special. Because they are special. That moment right now, you will never have back. The moments pass by so quickly in our short lives. Do you want to live them in bitterness and anger? In the fog of folly and hedonism? Or in joyfulness and with endurance?

I saw a great example of taking everyday moments and making them full of gladness. Once a month a mom of four young children creates “Fancy Dinner Night.” The children all dress in their finest clothing. She makes picture menus of the meal she has planned. There’s candles and cloth napkins and the fancy china. She plays the role of waitress and hands out the menus as though she is serving clients at a 5 star Michelin restaurant. Even the toddler has a picture menu from which to choose his meal. She is training them not only to enjoy an everyday moment but how to act with character at mealtimes. It was so sweet and beautiful!

Console yourself, dear Battos. Things may be better tomorrow. While there’s life, there’s hope. Only the dead have none.”
Greek Poet Theokritos

There is always hope for tomorrow; a tomorrow filled with gladness. Why? Because we have the life and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He suffered the most gruesome of deaths to take on our sins. He sacrificed not only His human body but His heavenly one when he came to earth to live among us. He showed us what the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven will look like – ones who fully rely on God, they forgive and are forgiven, they put others ahead of themselves, they mourn over their sin. And when He was resurrected, He proved that those Kingdom Citizens will also be raised from the dead and be given yet another new life. What amazing hope we have for our eternal lives after this short time here on earth.

When we live in gladness and joy, we seek to serve others in His Holy Name. We love others well in His name. We take every moment, even in the trials and tribulations, and thank Him for providing for us, for healing us, and being our guiding light. So why oh, why would we want to miss out on that hope? Why would we not want to share that hope with those around us who choose daily leaning toward something less?

It’s not by searching for special things that we find joy, but by making the everyday things special.”
Warren Wiersbe

Friends, our time here is truly short so consider well your answers to the first two questions I presented. Because eternity is forever. A forever spent in the presence of the glory of God or of the pain of hell.

"So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.” Ecclesiastes 9:1

King Solomon eventually, in his study of the meaningless life, discovers that we do, in fact, know what awaits us. If we take the narrow path set before us by Jesus we are greeted with unmeasurable love. Our knowledge of that truth should give us the endurance to live each day in gladness. And to spread that truth to so many others.

Are you the type that tells your family and friends that your best china is sitting locked away in some dusty cupboard? “It’s for special times.” And those times never seem to come? Break out that china, the linen napkins, the candles, even if it’s just you enjoying it or grab a few neighbors you’ve always wanted to meet. Make your everyday special in some way and rejoice with gladness!

You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
C.S. Lewis

And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 35:8-10

For many years my favorite vacation was to travel to San Francisco and hitch rides on the cable cars. I can still remember the smell they make when the cable operator would grip the underground cable and off we’d go! We would hop on and off at various famous stops and drink in the beautiful vistas of the bay. But did you know that unlike its counterparts, the trolleys, cable cars don’t have motors?

The San Francisco cable car system is made up of miles and miles of undergound cables which all intersect at the large cable car powerhouse. There you will find giant wheels operating the cables. Each cable car has a grip which clamps down on the moving cable. It’s the cable itself which moves each car. When a cable car needs to stop it releases the cable and applies its wheel brakes. Without the constantly moving cable, the cars are motionless.

I’m fascinated with how so many everyday activities in our lives reflect our relationship with God and His Holy promises. Without Him operating without ceasing, keeping our lives safely along His chosen path for us, we can so easily find ourselves stuck, a cable car without power.

A good friend of mine and I were out walking one day and we were discussing how easy it is to lose our grip of God’s promises. We get so distracted by the fears, anxieties and paths the world puts on us. The things we “should do” because the world expects it from us. But lately I’ve decided I need to be like the cable car operator – pulling back on that long lever and gripping the life-giving cable of God. And gripping it tightly.

As so many people know San Francisco is also famous for it’s steep hills. And the cable car operators find many challenges in navigating those hills. They need to know exactly when to grip at the right amount in order to make it up the hill or else they must release the cable and slide backwards to try it again. And on the downward slope they need to apply the right pressure on the cable while using their wheel brakes. Each operator must become an expert, not only about the cable car operation, but the individual pitfalls of each hill.

And like those operators, as Christians, we need to be as well versed on the character and promises of God. He promises to lay out a clear path for us. We need to place our full effort and attention on Him and that path. His path doesn’t remove us from the dangers of the hills and valleys, rather He helps us to weave our way up and around and down them.

I have given them Your word; 
and the world has hated them 
because they are not of the world, 
just as I am not of the world. 
I do not pray that You should take 
them out of the world, but that 
You should keep them from the 
evil one. 
They are not of the world, 
just as I am not of the world.
John 17:14-16

When we wrestle with God, at best, or at our worst completely ignore Him, we will find ourselves stuck at the bottom of our great hills. Or, plunging recklessly toward the bottom. The “highway is there” for us. It is the way of His righteousness.

A cable car operator who cannot successfully operate his car, and therefore protect his or her passengers, no longer has the privilege of that esteemed and famous job. And when we refuse to pay attention to the promised path which God provides for us and grip a hold of it, we miss out on the joy and gladness. The covenant of a promised path requires us to study His Word and hold fast to it.

In reading up about cable cars also discovered that all the miles of cable have a “sacrificial lubricant” that allows the grip to not wear down the cable itself. The lubricant wears away similar to a pencil eraser wearing down, rather than the paper it’s being used on. It’s that burning lubricant that gives the San Francisco cable cars it’s unique and memorable smell.

Jesus is our “sacrificial lubricant.” He ripped the curtain away and opened up our direct communication with God. He sent the Holy Spirit to walk with us at every moment. His teachings, when gripped, help us to live on the promised path set out for us.

Tag: gladness

Enjoying Life With Gladness

Grip The Promised Path