This Thing...Part Two

 Wow, said my son Matt, as he reverently touched the pages of a neighbor's family heirloom Bible, 'this never changes. These words are still exactly the same now as they were way back then, and way before 'back then'...Yes! and in this book it is written ' Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.' Matthew 24:35

When on those dreamy banks at last we stand

Betaken, not by grief or living’s care

But by the utter glory of a land

Where pinnacles of earth cannot compare

To Heaven; we begin to see at last

Our hope complete; for His love has not failed

Though mockers spit and jeered and stones were cast

In ignorance and hate; God’s love prevailed

For Love cannot be slain; it transcends flesh

While evil threatens to destroy and kill

It cannot take what God instills in us

Our gifted breath He cradles in His will

And when He wills this flesh-blood cup will fall

But death for some, will be our gladder gain

For then we leave this sin-cursed orb of gall

Beyond this thorn-and-thistle port of pain

To eons of thought’s greatest mystery

Alpha, Omega, First and Last, the Same

Where I AM IS: we strain but cannot see

Or grasp the vaguest glimpse of Love’s acclaim

But oh, its Urge within us bids us on

For all we cannot know One Thing is sure

His Word abides; we build our hope upon

Love’s Truth; for its foundation will endure

Hate has no Heaven-promise; only hell

Pray tell then, who can its evil afford?

Soon we will bid this fickle world farewell

And everyone will receive their reward

According to the things which we have done

Not for salvation’s price; but out of Love

By this we prove what words cannot atone

Of whom we serve; this world or God above

For action’s voice is irrefutable

It testifies where speech stutters and fails

Its proof is certain and immutable

And in the end its witness will prevail

The wise take heed and ponder the discourse

Of thought and where its evidence will lead

And who among us has not felt the Force

Of He who seeks to satisfy our Need?

Our Need is universal; it is Love

Man cannot live by bread alone; the soul

Is not sustained by this world’s treasure-trove

Only God’s love fulfills and makes us whole

Clay holds no fortune that can satisfy

It simply keens the hunger of the flesh

The treasures of this world with this world die

Oh, what will succor longings that enmesh

Within the aching vortex of desire

And what will be the purpose to life’s pain

As we grapple and grope through life’s quagmire

If we shun God? Then is our suffering vain,

For hope pleads not from beds of sloth and ease

But from the broken heart, the weak and poor

And while we question suffering’s agonies

We weep to God, for He will not ignore

The cries of those who place their trust in Him

Proclaiming power, not by what we see

But by the promises that yet remain

Until that full and final liberty

When hope that is not seen will be revealed

The glorious climax to salvation’s plan

As the veil where His glory is concealed

Will part and we behold the Son of Man

And then, like Stephen we will cry aloud

‘I see Jesus standing at God’s right hand’

And all the unbelieving and the proud

Will believe, bowing at the judgment stand

Where Love will be the Victor evermore

The wordless groans for which He intercedes,

The anguish and the tears as we implore

Will be banished as Love’s triumph succeeds

The frustrations we were subjected to

By Divine Love, so we would seek and find

Freedom from sin’s bondage thus brought into

His glory as we leave this world behind

The glass we peer through now is dark, but then

When face to face we see the unknown known

His Love will be our ultimate acclaim

As we worship before His holy throne

Where death and sorrow will be wiped away

No pain and crying ever enter there

Though questions fill our answers with dismay

God did not His own beloved Son spare

But offered Him, a living sacrifice

To pay a debt of hate with Love’s pure blood

And we will enter Heaven by Love’s price

Redeemed within Love’s unrelenting flood

For He has suffered and was tempted just as we

But Love will overcome the wiles of hate

This suffering that seems must surely be

Will never pass through Heaven’s gleaming gate

© Janet Martin

 Our speaker Gord Martin at this morning's worship service just returned from a visit to Burundi. His topic was Is There Purpose to our Pain? and he showed pictures, told stories of the pain and horror they were told of and witnessed leaving them shaken, as those suffering proclaimed the power and love of God...and he came to the conclusion that many times the only purpose of pain can be that through it we seek Hope, the Living Hope, Jesus Christ.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8; 18-21