The Beauty of Silence

"Keep silent before Me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near..." Isaiah 41:1a

There is an eighth deadly sin out there. It is called "noise," i.e., to commit noise or to have an inner disposition of noisiness. It is to have, or create an atmosphere conducive to, an inner state of such convoluted confusion and chaos created by the trappings of this world that there is no "room" for God to work or even move. You have no space left for Him. His still-small voice is drowned out in a barrage of useless inner baggage: "How do I look?" "How can I get ahead?" "When can I get the latest ?" "Why don't I have the latest ?" "How can I be so stupid?" "How am I going to pay for that?" "I wonder who won the game?" "Why did I lose the game?" "Why did he/she say that?" "Why can't I be like them?" "Why can't I look like them?" "How can I get back at them?" "How can I get back at me?" "Why does this always happen to me?" Everyday (from TVs, radios, movies, CD players, iPods, restaurant and department store sound systems, magazines, genre fiction, self-help books, our friends, our "friends," our parents, our siblings, ourselves) we are absolutely bombarded with noise in a hellish attempt to create noise within us as well as around us. God cannot woo a noisy soul; He has to take a sledgehammer to it.
As Switchfoot sings, "What's it gonna take to slow us down? To let the silence spin us around?" Everything in this world (whether it be good, bad, or indifferent) is designed to distract you with yourself or itself, or both. How beautiful is the silence (both inwardly and outwardly) that lets us come near to God! Are you wearied with noise? Pray to your Father, and He will raise up this standard against it: "Keep silent before Me, O noise; and let my child renew their strength. Let them come near..." Such silence is a peace that passes all our understanding.

"Be still, oh restless soul of mine.
Bow before the Prince of Peace.
Let the noise and clamor cease..."
(from Steven Curtis Chapman)
-Jon Vowell

The Strength of God

"Has thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [...] He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength...They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

The strength of our God is our strength. The strength that is unconquerable and unquenchable burns within us. The body may wear and wither, but the spirit will never fall or fail, for it is God's very Spirit. There is an immeasurable wealth of strength laid up within us that is not of us, and all things are now possible.
Two things must be remembered about this strength:

1. God gives it. It has no other source. All that it means to be a Christian is bound up in who God is; and the instant we focus on anything but Him, we cut ourselves off from the source, and all strength (and everything else) is gone. Remember: the enemy will lead you to yourself; God leads you to Himself.
2. God gives it in His time. "They that wait upon the Lord..." God gives us strength, but He does not give it willy-nilly. There will be times when you do not need strength, times when you need to remember the crushing weight of your weakness and be humbled under the mighty hand of God so that He may give you strength in His good time. The moments of weakness are just as vital as the moments of strength as long as they both lead you to Him.

"Limitless Strength.
Purpose for weakness.
My God supplies all my needs..."
-Jon Vowell

Lift Up Your Eyes

"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold [Him]..." Isaiah 40:26

To paraphrase Baudelaire: be always drunken with God. If you would not be crushed under the weight of circumstances, people, and time itself, be always drunken with God. Lift up your eyes on high and catch a glimpse of Reality so that you may find calm to your confusion. Take your gaze off of the endless noise and chaos of this world and its god and cast your eyes to the Highest. If you would be well, if your would find calm, if your would know peace, then lift up your eyes on high, and behold Him.
Peter got distracted: "Lord, what shall this man do?" (John 21:21) Lord, what about him? Or her? Or this? Or that? Or here? Or there? Or them? Or they? Or it? Jesus responds: "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." (vs. 22) Why are you distracting yourself with him or her, this or that, here or there, them or they or it? Why are you distracting yourself with the tales of others? My child, I am telling you your story, not their's. Follow Me. Keep your focus on Me. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Me.
Why are you distracting yourself with this world? Do you not know that it is fading away, and all that is with it will fade with it? Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Him Who is forever. Why are you distracting yourself with your fellow Christians? You make them a stumbling-block for your feet. How careless of you to do so. Do you not know that God is the only standard? We follow Him, to become like Him, and all for His glory. There is no shame in not being the greatest when your aim and desire is Him. From the smallest speck of dust in the remotest corner of space, to the mightiest angel ever to presence the heavens--all that follows Him, that moves to His dance, that are swept up into His will, give Him highest glory in the end. Lift up your eyes on high, and follow thou Him.

"Away from distractions,
To your arms I run,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Lost to all, found in You..."
-Jon Vowell

"Niether is this Thou..."

"To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare Him? The workman molds a graven image...[the poor man] chooses a tree...[and] seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image...
"Have ye not known? Have ye not heard?...It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth...that bringeth the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. 'To whom, then, will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?' saith the Holy One." Isaiah 40:18-25
"God, that made the world and all things therein...dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands..." Acts 17:24-25

In the Narnia book, The Silver Chair, Lewis has his young heroes run into the Green Witch, who hypnotizes them into thinking that they imagined Narnia, that it was not real. In her underground lair, she began to convince them of such odd absurdities like that there was no sun; they just saw a torch (in her lair) and imagined a bigger, greater torch. She told them there was no Aslan; they just saw a cat and imagined a bigger, greater one. At every turn, she was replacing the archetype with an ectype.
The spell was broken when Puddleglum (a living scarecrow) told the witch that he just could not believe that some "children playing a game" could invent a world that could "lick your real world hollow." He could not believe that the whole of Narnia was merely an imaginative over-elaboration of something lesser in the witch's lair. He could not believe that a lesser somehow produced its greater, that the sun is because of torches and not the other way around.
There is a reason the Bible has verses like the ones in Isaiah and Acts. There is no possible invention of God. Of gods, maybe, or ideals and principles, but not God Himself. To assume so is to be incredibly ignorant of or short-sighted in regards to all that God is. He is not (as Freud would say) merely an expanded father figure, nor merely the expanded fulfillment of a wish (I'm sure the Canaanites never wished for the God of Israel). He is not (as the Pagans would say) some expanded element(s) of Nature, or Nature itself. He is not (as other psychologist would say) the expanded hallucination of some psychotic delusion. He is not (as some historians would say) the expanded fears and superstitions of ancient people. He is not (as psychoanalysts would say) the expanded projection of our "self." Simply put, God is not a reflection of us; we are a reflection of Him. He is the Dei; we are but the imago dei. God has many metaphorical references, but no physical or spiritual source. There are many things we can say God is like (He is like a father; He is like desire; He is like the rain), but there is nothing we can liken Him to, nothing to which we can point to and say that this encompasses the whole God, i.e., this is God in an absolute sense. He is the Creator, the Highest (as Chambers would say). Everything came from Him; He did not come from anything.
That His reflection is found in certain people, places, and things speaks more to His confirmation as reality than His dismissal as fantasy. All the "likeness" (but not "likenness") we see in things are but small fragments of the whole picture. God fills and transcends all those things. He is our Father, but He is not merely a father, nor is He a father in the sense we understand it (for all our fathers have sinned, and fallen short of His glory). That, of course, is the point. God is not only in all of our concepts, but also beyond them in that He is their source. All concepts, all nouns and verbs both concrete and abstract, find their being in Him. To make Him the creation of our concepts, instead of the Creator of them, is a sad (and blasphemous) reversal. We must not mistake the reflection for the sun, the inns for home. Things may point to God, they may exude God, but they are not God Himself. To get caught up in things instead of the one to Whom they are what they are is to be hopelessly sidetracked your whole life, ever seeking, never finding, for we are ever distracted and deceived. May we learn well the double-edged discipline of being able to enjoy things while all the while understanding, "Neither is this Thou."

"Eternal God,
Enmeshed and Independent:
We make you a creation,
And lose all that matters..."
-Jon Vowell

True Worship

"Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering." Isaiah 40:16

In Isaiah's day, Lebanon was the par excellence for trees. Its cedars were legendary. In addition, it was a land full of beasts fit for an offering. Yet even if all of Lebanon was consumed as a holy pyre in sacrifice to God, it would not even scratch the surface of the worship that is due Him. Please remember, however (as I have said before), to let no one fool you with the nonsense that God needs worship. He is worthy of worship, but He does not need it; He needs nothing, and it is good that He does not. Even our mightiest endeavor at sacrifice is a weak excuse for an offering when stacked up next to the worship God deserves.
Though God instructed the Jews in the sacrifice of bulls and rams, there was (and is) one sacrifice God said that without it all our blood letting means nothing: ourselves. This is not only a New Testament truth (Romans 12:1), but also an Old Testament truth (Isaiah 1:11-18). The Bible makes one thing clear: your sacrifices mean nothing if you are not His, and you are not His unless your sins have been forgiven. This is were Christ comes in. His death took the punishment for Sin and His blood continually washes us from all sin (I John 1:7). This puts us back with God, and all that we are is now acceptable to Him, because through Christ all that God is, we are. Simply put, we are worthy because Christ makes us worthy.
Perhaps it is a paradox, but the only thing that God truly deserves, the only thing that can truly be worthy of Him, is Himself. The highest can only be matched with the highest, and seeing as how God is the highest, the only thing that God can accept is Himself. However, rather than leave us "out of the loop" (and consequently damned), God made a way (through Christ) for us to receive Him and become like Him, therefore being worthy and acceptable in His sight. Our praise and our service, every part or our lives that constitutes worship, is acceptable unto God, not because of us, but because of Him. We are fools if we think we are doing God a favor by worshiping Him. That we can worship Him, and that our worship is accepted by Him, speaks to a favor He did for us. The fact that the weak and insufficient worship of broken, messed up people is accepted by God is a testament to His mercy and grace, not our talent or skill. Indeed, the very fact of worship is another reason to worship; we could not even begin to do it unless God had done something wonderfully drastic in our lives.
Little is much only when God is in it. Neither Lebanon nor ourselves are worthy sacrifices unless God is in it and us. He has made us a channel whereby all that He is flows forth and shines back to Himself. We are the mirror that catches the beam of His brightness and reflect it back to Him. The whole of the universe, from the mightiest angel to the smallest speck of dust, is bound up into this great dance, this continuous circuit of worship. There is no way out of it except into the nothingness of outer darkness, where, sadly, many have chosen and will chose to embrace meaningless chaos and empty silence, shut out from the land of worship, from the land of the living, forever.

"We are made a channel
Where His Self is poured.
By the Blood of Jesus,
For the glory of the Lord..."
-Jon Vowell

A Small Testimony

"Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the fine dust on the balance; behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Isaiah 40:15

"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord...He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." Psalm 2:2, 4

No matter how "well-grounded" one's faith is, the disbelief of unbelievers can be quite disturbing and disconcerting. It is oft times a terrifying ordeal to step into the "marketplace of ideas." Individual arguments are irrelevant; the sheer volume of arguments is what shakes a person. It is easy to be post-modern. Merely walk into and just look at all the different (and often opposing) ideas in the world. It can be very overwhelming, and in the middle of it all can hear yourself ask, "How do I know I found the right thing amongst all these things?" It is a terrifying place to be, indeed; but I dare say that it is one we must all reach sooner or later if we are to gain any sort of strength worthy of the name. We must all, whether we like it or not, one day face head-on the tension between the plots and ideas of man and the truth of God.
If anyone ever asked me (and they have) why I believe what I believe (or anything at all) in the face of some much, I could point to books I've read (and am reading, and plan to read), Bible passages I've learned and wrestled with towards understanding, and experiences I have had that lead me to know what I know. In truth, however, the shortest answer is the best: having read, learned, understood, and experienced what I have (and am, and will), I believe this Christian thing (i.e., Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Redemption, Trinity, etc.) to be the truth because this Christian thing just makes sense at the end of the day (I primarily have Chesterton to thank for that, though all things added to it). The further up and in I go into Christianity, the more and more I am satisfied intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and practically. Intellectually, in my fundamental need for logic and reason, and disdain for naiveté and willful ignorance. Emotionally, in my fundamental need for security and adventure. Spiritually (some might say "Psychologically"), in my fundamental need for teleology and purpose (as well as freedom from Sin). Practically, in my fundamental need for use (is the thing able to work itself out in real life), and that, I would venture to say, is where most ideas fail miserably. They are fun to talk about (or lord over others) in an academic setting (or leaning on the mantelpiece with a cocktail in your hand), but in the real world they just do not work. You find yourself denying them all the time, and I defiantly hold that Christianity does not have that problem. It is a practical worldview, one of the very few practical worldviews out there.
Ultimately, however, all that is not what keeps me calm in the face of vehement doubt and violent skepticism. What does is the knowledge that God is never disturbed or bothered by the noise of critics. I believe Chesterton said that the joy of the Lord is our strength because it is God's joy, a joy unshakable and unconquerable. All the ideas and plots, all the best and worst of man changes nothing. All the nations are still of no consequence to Him, their plans swallowed into His plans, and their plans against Him are His favorite joke. It is very nice to be able to say, "I believe because it just makes sense." It is much nicer to be able to say, "Though you cannot know it exactly like I know it, I believe because I have met this God, I know He is real, and He says in His word that He is unmoved and unaffected by the quantity and bite of men's thoughts." I will gladly admit the former, but ultimately plead the latter.
Explaining to people why you know Christianity is true is a tricky ordeal because, alone amongst the ideas of this world, it is not merely an idea. It is a relationship with a person, and such a thing cannot be ultimately explained by logic or argument. It is not void of logic or argument; it just is a shore that they cannot reach. The trick to explaining Christianity is that, at the end of the day, no one can know Christianity is true because you explained it to them; they have to experience it for themselves.

"To know these truths
Is to know You.
To know You is to
Never, no never, be moved..."
-Jon Vowell

The Way of Wisdom, and the Nature of "Is"

"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?" Isaiah 40:13, 14

Perhaps it seems pious to say that God is wise (and it is). In saying so, however, we must not confusingly assume that God is wise in some quantitative sense, as though He is wise but could be wiser. God is not wise in a quantitative sense; He is wise in an absolute sense. Wisdom is not some standard that God meets better than we do; He is the standard. We must not forget that "is" is a statement of being, not action. Every time we say God "is" something, we are not talking about His activity, but rather His very nature. It is pious to say God is wise; it is wise to say that He is wisdom.
I dare say that in day-to-day life we are quite sure that we are the children of a wise Father, but we hardly consider that we are the children of Wisdom Himself (or Love, Holiness, or whatever else we rather absentmindedly say God "is"). There is no wisdom (or love, holiness, truth, patience, joy, etc.) without God "in the mix." To get this things is to get Him, because He is them. You cannot know these things without knowing Him; there is no such thing.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally..." (James 1:5a) God gives you wisdom by giving you more of Himself in regards to intimate knowledge. I say "in regards to intimate knowledge," because I do not want you thinking that you get a little bit of God now and more later on. At salvation, all that God is, you are; His Spirit dwells completely within you. However, that Spirit is not some lifeless energy; it is person you get to know, and just because you have all of Him does not mean that you know all of Him. In addition, you cannot obtain what He is (wisdom, love, holiness, etc.) without Him.
To know Him more is to become wise (and lovely, holy, etc.). That is a central teaching of the New Testament: through obedience lies wisdom, through faith lies understanding (Hebrews 11:3). We want it the other way around: "If I could only understand, I would believe." The reverse is the beginning of the Christian intellectual life: "When I believe, I understand." To understand is to know Him, and you cannot even begin to know Him without faith in Him. God is our wisdom, the same wisdom by which all things were made; only through Him can be understand all things, and only through faith in Christ can we begin to know Him.
There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is an awareness of the truth; wisdom is a conformation to the truth. God is the wisdom that conforms us to Reality. He shapes us to understand what is really going on, to begin to see things like He does. Consequently, we are ruined for this world, because we no longer see as they see, we are no longer blind to the world behind the world. We want nothing to do anymore with the world's trappings and noise; we only want more of Him. They call it foolishness; God calls it wisdom. and He will use this "foolishness" to confound the world into some sort of vigorous reaction. By giving us Himself, He conforms us to Himself, and the world can never again satisfy. We sense no other purpose, no other industry or charity or ministry, that to be living sacraments, channels of His presence to the world, with all His wisdom, terror, love, and beauty.

"We chase after the winds,
We chase our own tales.
If we would just chase You,
We would inherit all things..."
-Jon Vowell

The Great God

"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and measured out heaven with the span of His hand, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" Isaiah 40:12

All the greatness that we can comprehend is but a shadow of the greatness of God.
We compare Him to the sea, its strength and wildness, its adventure and mystery. Its presence is felt across the world, and there is no land where its effects are not seen. It refreshes the world, and is the source of life. Yet the mighty seas do not even rise to the dignity of a puddle before our great God.
We compare Him to the heavens, its vastness and glory, its tapestry used as both shield and covering. We are captured by the awe of the lights of the dark night, or consumed by the mountainous simplicity of the burning blue sky. Yet the glorious heavens cannot outstretch even the palm of our great God.
We compare Him to the earth, deep and strong, sturdy and immovable. A place of shelter and security, as well as exploration and discovery, providing both security and adventure. Its foundations are as strong as iron, and the whole of it is a mighty matter of legend. Yet the strong earth is but dust in a cup before our great God.
We compare Him to the mountains and the hills, their very size and shape seemingly transubstantiates them with greatness. They are equally beautiful and dangerous, filled to the brim with perils and wonders innumerable. Yet the numinous mountains and hills are but small rocks in the eyes of our great God.
This same great God is your Father in Heaven. The God to Whom the seas are but a drop stands ready to save and strengthen you. The God to Whom the heavens are but a little thing stands close to hold you. The God to Whom the earth is but rubble draws near to guide you. The God to Whom the mountains and hills are but pebbles counts you as precious and lovely in His sight. This same great God is yours, and you are His. Who can comprehend our great God? His greatness is forever beyond all knowing, and His love forever beyond His greatness. Amen.

"Eternal God, unchanging
Mysterious and unknown
Your boundless love unfailing
In grace and mercy shown.
Bright seraphim in ceaseless flight
Around your glorious throne,
They raise their voices day and night
In praise of You alone.

Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!

Lord, we are weak and frail
Helpless in the storm.
Surround us with Your angels,
Hold us in Your arms.
Our cold and ruthless enemy,
His pleasure is our harm.
Rise up, oh Lord, and he will flee
Before our sovereign God!

Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!

Let every creature in the sea
And every flying bird.
Let every mountain, every field
And valley of the earth.
Let all the moons and all the stars
In all the universe,
Sing praises to the living God
Who rules them by His word.

Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God!"
-"Our Great God" (by Fernando Ortega and Mac Powell)

"May all the greatness that we see
Lead us ever unto You..."
-Jon Vowell

The Great Shepherd

"He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah 40:11
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ..." Hebrews 13:20, 21

There is perhaps nothing worse than feeling lost, to feel the crushing mediocrity of aimless floating about. We try to ground our spirits with anything: hobbies, vices, work, charities, academics, even ministries. If it can serve as a lodestar for us for even a minute, we want it.
Behind the great nagging questions of life ("Why are we here?" "Where are we going?" etc.) is a fundamental need to be guided, guided by something or someone over and above our existence that can take in the "whole show" and lead us to our proper spot on the stage and give us some directions. Whether or not the concept of a personal guide (or director) is something we adhere to is irrelevant at the moment. Personal or otherwise, we all want to be led. Even the most natural-born leaders want something to lead to, a goal or objective that arrest their very leadership with purpose, for what good is their leadership if there is nowhere to go? Even leaders need to be led.
It is not for mere metaphorical effect that God (and Christ) is called a "shepherd." That God is what we are being lead to gets sometimes preached under a vague notion of "heaven" (as though God is not found in the here and now). That God is simultaneously leading us as well gets completely lost; either that or it gets used a s a disguise for service recruitment ("Is God leading you to serve in such-and-such?"). I fear that when we are not ignoring God as shepherd, we are painting a horribly wrong picture of Him. The idea of surrendering to "God's will for your life" seems to contain the veiled threat of God needing nameless, faceless bodies to fill random positions so some sort of work can get done. Thus, instead of His will being a delight (and the true desire of our hearts), it comes off as (at best) a chore, or (at worst) just more meaninglessness (God had no purpose for your life other than needing another random body to throw into His machine).
God is the shepherd of us all, i.e., each of us individually. It is true that we have noting to bring to Him except ourselves (broken and flawed, fallen and empty), but the self that we give is the self that He created, with all its passions, dreams, temperament, personality, and quirks. Who you are is not lost; it is remade, remade into the image of His Son. Jesus is not a cookie cutter; "conformed to His image" does not mean vague generality but true God-likeness, the making of who you are into all that God is. He wants you (grasp the wonder of that!) so that He can work His good will through you (and all that he created you to be). God wants you so He can take all that you are, mold you into what you ought to be, i.e., Himself (which, coincidentally, you discover through the process is exactly what you wanted to be, though you may not have known it at first), and then use you in a very specific are that you were designed to fulfill. Let us not only grasp that God is the lodestar that leads us, but also that He is not leading us unto perdition. God's will is not a monolithic machine that you get chucked into and disappear; it is a perpetual tapestry that you are swept into and made a part of forever.

"Into the burning Will
Away from the burning nothing.
Let me trade my dreams for Yours,
And find myself in Who You Are..."
-Jon Vowell

The Perpetual and The Transitory

"What shall I say? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: the grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand forever." Isaiah 40:6-8

I think it's safe to say that the hardest part of eternal life is keeping our focus on the perpetual and off the transitory, on the eternal and off the fleeting. This is the hardest thing, because the concrete world is all we know literally in the realm of our senses, and we are more sensuous than spiritual before salvation. Some act like salvation means a complete end of confusion and deception, of mistaken identities and lost focuses. It is a lie. When you are born from above, you are just like any newborn: you have to get your "spiritual legs" underneath you. Salvation is getting the legs; eternal life is learning how to use them. Being "spiritual," having "mythic eyes," is not an imparted superpower, but a learned discipline. Be wedded to the fact that everything in this world (good, bad, or indifferent) is geared to knock your legs out from under you, to blind your eyes. Practical agnosticism comes the moment we think living by faith is easy and not a battle. The Spirit of God is your strength, but you must be prepared to face the noise of this world as it vies for your attention. God cannot help the one who walks onto the battlefield and is ignorant of the battle (except to let him get knocked around a bit).
"All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." Notice that the material world is not condemned. There is a "goodliness," a loveliness to the world that is as real as the loveliness of a flower. Gnosticism is a lie, and this verse stands defiantly against it. The material world is not evil, per se; it is just transitory, not the end, and therefore not meritorious of our focus. It will wither and fade away by the very same breath that gave it life (vs. 7). It fades not becaus eit is evil, but because that is its very nature; it cannot be forever.
"The word of our God shall stand forever." Only what is of God will be forever, and in that sense only what is of God matters. This heaven and earth do not matter; the new ones do. Our little kingdoms do not matter; the kingdom of God does. Life as it is does not matter; only eternal life does. We do not matter; only God does. Do not misunderstand. I am not giving a qualitative or moral judgment. I am talking about focus. The earth is good and to be cared for, we must see to our affairs like adults, and life is meant to be lived; but we must never get wrapped up in those things, for they will fade away. Some people are so wrapped up, so hopelessly bound to things, that they will wither away with them. Hell is the place where all things eternally wither away into the nothingness that is not-God.
Perhaps it is true that your focus determines your reality, even if that reality is false. We must guard ourselves daily from the snare of the transitory. The more we focus on a thing, the easier it becomes to stay focused on it. Pray that the eternal Lord teaches us to stay focused on Him.

"Teach us to get lost in You,
Not in this world,
To trade the food of egypt
For Milk and Honey..."
-Jon Vowell

This is Redemption II: God with Us

"Every valley shall be lifted up, and mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places made smooth; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together..." Isaiah 40: 4, 5a

The revelation of God's glory has always been noted as a necessary part of redemption. At least, the language of the Bible seems to garner that image. Somehow, God's ultimate victory will not require one ounce of sweat from His brow.; He will merely "show up," i.e., be manifested, and it is all over. When his glory comes (Isaiah 40:4, 5), when His presence fills the whole earth (Isaiah 11:9), when it fills all of His people (Romans 8:18-21), and shines forth without measure, so that the earth becomes like a star, and all things are consumed into Him, that is redemption, i.e., God with us.
Christ is redemption, not only in action but also in very being, not only in the Cross but also in Immanuel. The presence of God is the presence of redemption, and Jesus is the revelation of God's presence and glory (John 1:14). When he comes again, it will be the same (there is a reason the Christian apocalypse is referred to as a "revelation"). The glory that Christ placed in those who believed will be revealed as He comes bringing the all consuming, crushing presence and glory of God, manifested "as He is" (I John 3:2). The effect will be the same as it was when he walked the dust of this earth:
"Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low," the humble shall find their honor, and the proud will crumble to the ground. Jesus once said that those who are "poor in spirit" and "meek" would overthrow the mighty and strong (Matthew 5:3-12), and that the religious elite where utterly abominable (Matthew 25:1-36). Revelation speaks of great and mighty men hiding in caves and crying that mountains collapse on them so that they may hide from the presence of God, and there is always that ominous law (written in both Testaments) that God will give grace to the humble but that He "opposes the proud" (I Peter 5:5).
"The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places made smooth," the "bent" of all things will be returned to their proper place, i.e., towards God. That is what Christ did for us (Romans 5:1-11); it is what he will do for the whole world. In addition, all that was once heart-breaking trials and sorrows can no longer cause us to fall. God's word has told us as much (Isaiah 43:2; Romans 8:31-39; II Corinthians 4:8-10).
These are not mere abstraction; "God with us" is not a mere philosophical theorem. It is an actuality, right now and soon to come. Christ has made (and will make) such things possible. It started with His Cross, it will end with His Coming in glory, but that ending will, in truth, only be the beginning. When the Fall is burned away from every residue of creation's being, the adventure and wonder that is redemption, that is the all-consuming fiery presence of God, will have just begun.

"May the Deeper Life to come
Consume this life of mine now.
May my life be a prelude
To Heaven on earth..."
-Jon Vowell