Anne Marie Ezzo writes: “As believers we should reflect on the event of Easter everyday, not just once a year. It is because He is the risen Christ and is alive that we have life. Once again Denise shares with us thoughts to ponder and As God pleases, dispose the day….”

“Psychics are busy trying to give people hope with a glimpse of the future,

while Christians who have hope live as this world was all there is.”

In Jude 1:3 believers are called to “contend earnestly for the faith’. The word “contend” in this statement is an athletic term, which comes from the root word “agonize”. It is a picture of a devoted athlete stretching every nerve and muscle to win. It reminds me of Paul’s letter to the Philippians where he says “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). The apostle Paul uses athletic metaphors often when talking about the believers walk. As believers we aren’t to meander haphazardly to the finish line but we are to “press”, to buffet our bodies, not looking to the left or right, but striving for the goal. Paul always emphasizes the goal.

As believers, when we look around at our church locally and nationally, we don’t see a lot of “athletic Christians”. More often you see an exhausted saint spinning in circles on the middle of life’s race track. In fact from their perspective the race track is more of a convoluted maze with no means to find the end. They are so focused on where they are at that moment that they have lost sight of the goal. The goal scriptures mention is the glory of Christ’s return. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Our citizenship is in heaven and we should eagerly wait for Christ’s return (Philippians 3:20). There are actually more references to Christ’s second return than there were to his first coming in scripture. Why? Because, the ability to run the race successfully is determined by our focus. In the end we want to say as Paul did, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (II Timothy 4:7-8).

How would the lives of today’s saints look like if they “loved His appearing”? If believers focused on the glory of eternity, instead of their few years on this sin marred earth, then they would live with eternal purpose. Each generation of believers carries the responsibility of Christianity. St. Augustine stated this centuries ago, when he argued against the monastic movement, saying if believers locked themselves away, that there would be no light to the lost and thus Christianity would die out in one generation.

If eternity was the focus of Christians, then as parents, they would not just struggle like crisis managers, merely trying to survive each new phase (troublesome twos, rebellious teens…), but would see that they were training and equipping those who would replace them in the furtherance of the gospel. They would understand that they were passing the baton for the survival of Christianity. They would see the necessity of teaching their children how to do quiet times, and study the Bible and how to handle life situations Biblically and live righteously. Parents today seem more concerned with their children’s safety, comfort and happiness than their character and holiness.

If believers lived in the expectation of Christ’s return, they would be less likely to hang on to sin, thinking they had plenty of time to repent later. The urgencies of today would lose importance in the realities of eternity. People would become more important than self and things. The wealth and acquisition of goods they spend so much time stockpiling would take their correct importance as the transitory things that they are, which will only become the possession of another person, or line the walls of some Salvation Army store after they are gone. They would be more concerned with the preciousness of others, knowing their opportunity to show them Christ is short. There isn’t any aspect of our life that would not be altered if we saw our daily life through the eyes of a bride on her wedding day in Glory looking back to today and seeing the things that needed to be done before her Bridegroom calls her to His home.

Lord, as Easter approaches we look back to nearly 2000 years ago, when you betrothed yourself to us with the bride price of your blood. Now, as the decades pass, take our wandering hearts and give us a new anticipation of your return. We do not know the hour or the day, but help us to live as if it were coming shortly. “And the Spirit and the Bride say “Come”. (Revelation 22:17)

As God pleases, dispose the day © 2009 is an electronic devotional by D. A. Brewer. All Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Version, © 1993 Lockman Foundation and used by permission. The title “As God pleases, dispose the day” is a quote from Henry V by William Shakespeare.