Until the End

Have any of you ever felt that your life is out of your control? Maybe you have felt that all that you do, all that you say, all that you try and accomplish is just one step short of actually grabbing onto your life?

You feel as though it is moving in front of you, and that you just cannot catch up.

Maybe it is the speed at which we live our lives. Multitasking...agendas...lists...priorities.  Or, maybe it is our world of technology, that fills our head with so much thought and content that we analyze other's lives before we dissect our own.

Often, I feel as though I am directed and pushed into avenues that I never wanted to be in the first place.  After an hour of scanning through pictures, visions, ideas, on my phone I feel less inspired than I did if I was to sit on my own and stare blankly into space. Why is that?

The vision I had for my life is so far off of what I end up getting myself into. How is this possible?

Has it ever hit you that the one directing you and pushing you to go in various directions wants you to get off course? Maybe it is distraction pulling you from where you need to be, or sin placing roadblocks in front of you, not allowing you to truly live the life formed for you.

I am beginning to see that the reasons we follow fleeting passions and become off- center isn't only because we are human and live in a fallen world. It is because the idols we find ourselves following do not have the full authority under heaven.

Distractions, Satan, and sin do not see the whole picture, yet they do see the fullness and the might of God.

Our Lord has been commanded with "all authority in heaven and on earth", and amazingly it "had been given to [him]" (Matthew 28:18). He has absolute authority, and can and will exercise it under the Father's command. This passage is embedded in the midst of the great calling and directing of the Bible, to bring people to the reality and the knowledge of the Lord as their Savior and Master.

In elementary school I remember shouting out the grammar terms and rules found in a passage after the teacher prompted us. Here, we find an ACTION verb-- a directing verb. "Go therefore.."

To those of you who do not know Jesus, and have no idea what this "great calling" or "great commission is", it sounds as though it is once again, another way to follow something with no end. Suddenly it sounds like we are finding ourselves following blindly on this mission.

Then-- this figure of authority changes the scene. Jesus states, Beloved..."I am WITH you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

While you follow on this thing called life, and navigate through the Great Commission, I am with you. And, what's even crazier, I will be with you until the END. Not just when it gets tough, not just when it is exciting, not just when you need clarity or direction. No, I am with you from the moment you were formed in your mother's womb, until the day you see me face to face.  I walk this journey with you. 

How many tasks in our life do we finish? I can't even read all of the 140 character blurbs that were posted the night before when I wake up. I have a hard time letting my computer charge to 100%. I run out of the door with my nails still wet (and later mess them up), because I hate waiting.  We hate staying until the end.

Earlier this week I posted a question to Twitter stating "why do you think our generation loves lists?" Buzzfeed posts of the top 10 ways to become successful seem to pop up every day. Many responded, "Because our generation wants the quick-fix".

Jesus doesn't skim through our character, choose what he wants, and ignores the rest. Jesus doesn't grow impatient. Jesus is there until the end. He declares the vision, and the direction from the beginning, and sets the reality of his presence. He is with us until the end- through the muck, through the heartache, through the rabbit-holes and distraction, and through the times we only go halfway and lose our way. He never leaves things unfinished.

Just as his dying breath was an exhale of truth.. "It is FINISHED", so is His presence with us. Through our living out of the Great Commission, and through the living of our lives, He stays with us and walks with us. Until the very, very, end.