A friend of mine made this observation.

“When Jesus gave the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He said – ‘When you pray, pray like this…’ (Luke 11:2). The pronoun ‘you’ is plural. Jesus expected His disciples to pray together. When Jesus ascended to the Father, 120 disciples remained together in prayer. When Peter was arrested, the Church gathered together to pray. It says in Acts 2:42-43 that the Church devoted themselves to prayer and they all met every day for prayer, worship and communion.” (Bernie McGale)

Corporate prayer – believers gathering together around the throne of grace for the business of the Kingdom – stands out to us like a work crew on a construction site.  Men and women assemble together at the beckon of their Foreman for the task at hand.

A believer’s prayer life is incomplete if it does not include community.  Communing with God in private prayer is vital to cultivation of personal relationship with Him as our Father in heaven.  But it is as believers assemble with other believers that the work of the kingdom more forcefully advances.

The design of corporate prayer carries the wisdom of God in a number of ways.

• It puts words in our mouths.  When we don’t know what to pray or when our prayer is anemic, others give us words that become ours by the “amen” of our hearts.
• It issues a “call to knees.” Often we find ourselves unmotivated to pray.  But assembling with other believers for that very purpose forces the issue.   We cannot help but pray.
• It helps us stay on task.  Though our minds may wander, they snap back to the task at hand.  Group dynamics remind us that we are present shoulder-to-shoulder for the work of the kingdom.
• It carries special blessing from God.  The principle of Matthew 18:19-20 assures us that our Lord Jesus is with us in a peculiar way as two or three gather in His name for kingdom work.

I met recently with a fellow pastor to discuss how to cultivate a mentality of prayer among our people.  When he arrived as the new pastor of his church, corporate prayer was almost non-existent.  As a matter of first importance, he embarked on stirring the congregation to gather for prayer. Slowly but steadily the people are catching on.  Interest is waxing.  Numbers are growing.  That small group committed to prayer, engaged in prayer is the tiny brush fire that, with the winds of the Spirit, will set the whole forest ablaze.

What do they pray?  Primarily, their cause is to declare the glory of God and to delight in His mercies.  Such prayer is new to them.  Their experience in prayer meetings has been to check off items on a prayer list.  That sort of prayer is there.  But it is sanctified in a blaze that seeks God’s glory.

Among the articles on my USA Today iPad app, one took me aback.  It posed the question, “Can a Christian watch ‘Game of Thrones’?”

Not having read the books or seen the show, I’m not in a position to answer the question one way or the other.  But what struck me was that the question was being posed by an article in secular media, when it seems that many professing Christians do not even ask that question of themselves.

Holiness among believers appears to have gone out of style.  I’m not suggesting we publish an “approved” list of morally acceptable TV shows, movies, books or magazines.  I have a vague memory growing up (as most of my memories are nowadays) of a list of movies deemed permissible and impermissible, published by the Roman Catholic church.  I’m not proposing we reinstitute such a list.

What I am saying is that, if followers of Jesus Christ are called to pursue holiness in His name, then it is necessary that we ask questions like the one posed by the USA Today article.

Our Father in heaven calls His adopted children to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:14-15). It’s clear Peter is speaking of the practice of holiness rather than positional, in that he calls for action in the verse prior.

“Holy” means separate. Not that we become aloof from the world or sequestered from it (cf. 1 Cor. 5:10).  Our Lord Jesus urges His disciples to be in the world but not of it.  We are to be holy, set apart for God, not from the world but in the world.

Holiness requires choices.  Choices require deliberation.  Deliberation takes into account counsel in what our God wants of us as His children.  God’s Word is a lamp to our feet.

The teachings of our Lord and the epistles of His apostles pay much attention to how we are to live as saints, ones set apart to belong to Christ. Throughout, we are told to conduct our lives in light of our standing in Christ. Notice Paul in Ephesians 5.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. Eph. 5:1-4

These commands of Scripture make demands of us.  They force us to ask questions about what we partake of and in what we involve ourselves.

Later in that same chapter in Ephesians, Christ’s spokesman reminds us that by the redeeming grace of God our orientation to life has changed.

…at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Eph. 5:8-10

Disciples of Jesus cannot go with the flow.  They must walk circumspectly, following the GPS of wisdom (Eph. 5:15-17).

I can hear the protests of some, “But I am under grace, not under law. I am free in Christ.”  That is assuredly true if you belong to Christ.  But the freedom of the gospel speaks not only to freedom from sin’s guilt and power, but also freedom for obedience to Christ.  Just read Romans 6 to see that the Christian’s liberty does not mean autonomy or license, but conscription to Christ.

Paul goes to great pains in Romans 3 through 5 to show that the righteousness by which we are accepted by God and through which we gain salvation is the imputed righteousness of Christ alone, received by grace alone, through faith alone.  From that foundation, Paul goes on in Romans 6 through 8 to describe what that looks like experientially in the pursuit of holiness, as ones no longer dead in sin but alive in Christ.

The grace that saves apart from works (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:3-7) is a grace that enrolls us in the school of discipleship as Christ is formed in us.  Look at the lesson plan of Titus 2:11-14.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14

Who is the teacher of Titus 2:11?  Law?  No, the schoolmaster is grace.   But law is certainly part of the lesson plan as an exhibit of the heart-based obedience characteristic of those who love Jesus.  Grace instructs and enables Christians in pursuit of holiness.  Grace never teaches stark self-effort but Christ-dependence.

According to the salutation of 1 Cor. 1:2, believers are holy in the Lord and called to be holy.  The call to holiness requires that we discern what pleases our Lord Jesus, to the glory of the Father, that we might not grieve the Holy Spirit (e.g., 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Eph. 4:30; Gal. 5:13-25).

Holiness testifies to us of the workmanship of God’s life-changing grace in our lives.  Holiness also testifies to the world that we belong to a holy God, purchased by a holy Son, and are indwelt by a holy Spirit.  Holiness is a calling card of the gospel to a world that needs to hear (Mt. 5:13-16; 1 Pet. 3:14-17).

Every Christian might not arrive at the same answer in respect to the question posed by the USA Today article, but the question needs to be asked.  And it needs to be answered in light of the revealed truth of our Father in heaven, whose name is holy.

It’s easy for us to miss unless someone points it out.  How many times have we rejoiced over good news and forgotten that was something we had prayed about? Or perhaps God has worked something in our lives and we have not recognized it as relating to our plea to Him, perhaps a job interview to a petition for financial relief?

In 2 Sam. 17 Absalom had rebelled against David his father.  David had fled Jerusalem. Absalom was working to establish his rule in the place of his father.

Toward that end, Absalom had sought the counsel of Ahithophel, whose counsel had been described “like that of one who inquires of God” (2 Sam. 16:23).  In other words, his counsel was like the voice of God Himself.

Ahithophel’s advice to Absalom was for a quick strike on the fleeing David.

Ahithophel said to Absalom, “I would choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David. I would attack him while he is weary and weak. I would strike him with terror, and then all the people with him will flee. I would strike down only the king and bring all the people back to you.” 2 Samuel 17:1-3

That advice seemed sound to the king and the other leaders.  However, Absalom thought it wise to seek a second opinion.  So he called for Hushai, another trusted advisor.  Hushai took exception to his colleague and suggested a different approach, which the self-appointed king embraced. The result was David’s escape and eventual restoration to the throne. (You can read the whole account in 2 Samuel 17-18.)

The question is, why did Absalom heed Hushai’s advice over Ahithophel’s, especially when Athithophel’s counsel was held in such high regard?  Why did Absalom even seek out Hushai’s input?  He hadn’t done so in earlier decisions about establishing his rule after his father David had fled.  And finally, why did Absalom opt for the counsel of Hushai over Ahithophel’s?

The answer lies tucked in the earlier narrative.

Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “O Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.” 2 Samuel 15:31

The turn of events that safeguarded David and restored him to the throne in Jerusalem can be linked to God’s answer to his prayer.

We’re not told in the account  if David made the connection (Psalm 3 suggests he would have), but it is certainly there for us as readers to connect.  Now our job is to make that connection as events unfold in our lives, that we might return to the God we sought in prayer, to bring Him gratitude and glory.

Natural catastrophes like the F-5 tornado outside Oklahoma City and human atrocities such as the murder of the British soldier in London or shootings of school children in Connecticut shake us to the core.  We reel at the pain and horror of it all.  Our hearts break at the suffering shown us by the media.

Our distress is exacerbated, though, when we factor God into the equation. Where was He when these things were transpiring?  What do these events say about God?

Psalm 91 speaks of God being a shelter, a refuge and fortress.  He gives assurance that “He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence” (Ps. 91:3).  The snare of the fowler addresses what people can do to us (e.g., shootings). Deadly pestilence speaks to natural disaster, those things uncontrived by people (e.g., tornadoes).

Really!  Then what happened in these horrific events that resulted in the loss of human life?  Where was God?

All we can do is affirm with Scripture that God is sovereign (absolute, unaffected, abiding rule).  He is all-wise.  He is all-powerful.  He is all-good.  His perfect purposes govern all that comes to pass. And His ways are inscrutable to us.

Our view of God cannot be formed through the lens of a fallen world with eyesight distorted by cataracts of pride.  We must understand Him as He wants us to understand Him.  We want to embrace God for who He is and ourselves for who we are.  That’s called operating in the fear of the Lord, the wellspring of wisdom. We want to believe God when He describes Himself as He does in Isaiah 45:7:

            I form light and create darkness,

            I make well-being and create calamity,

            I am the LORD, who does all these things.

And we want to worship and trust Him for it.  We don’t want to be as those who think we know better than God and so bring Him under our judgment.  And we certainly don’t want to opt for a smaller God, lesser God, weaker God. That would be to fashion God in our image.  The fitted sheet of our limited minds cannot possibly stretch over the vastness of the glory of God to contain Him. The living and true God will not fit into our box.

The Apostle Paul, when contemplating such things that could prompt rebellion, says this.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36

Tragedy in this world should not stifle our prayer. It should amplify it.  We should raise our voice louder and with greater urgency in our need.  We should express to Him our longing for His promised relief in the age to come.  Our petitions should run along the lines of the hymn that celebrates His faithfulness: “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”

And in the trenches of tragedy, we want to extend the comfort of Christ.  He offers a peace that the world does not know, a peace that guards hearts and minds, a peace that surpasses understanding.  That peace is found in His loving embrace against the woes of a fallen world He Himself endured.  In Christ, that peace reaches to the world to come where there will be no more tears or suffering or pain or tragedy or death—the ultimate comfort for those who have found refuge through faith in Christ.

The English Standard Version includes a footnote to its translation of Psalm 109:4.  The text reads: “In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.”  The psalmist cries out to God, whom He calls “O God of my praise” (v. 1), for relief and retribution against the wicked who are assailing him.

The ESV footnote, however, cites the literal rendering of the Hebrew text, “but I am prayer.” The New International Version perhaps captures the Hebrew better by saying, “but I am a man of prayer.”  But even that falls short of the startling statement expressed by the original language.

Psalm 109 is an imprecatory psalm. Rather than speaking benediction, it pronounces malediction.  In today’s parlance, the psalmist’s prayer is filled with hate speech.  To understand how this can find a place in Holy Scripture and in our prayer lives, see my article, “Praying the Imprecatory Psalms.”

What we concern ourselves with here, though, is what it means to say, “I am prayer.”

Clearly, the psalmist is weighed down under the onslaught of evil.  While his own oppression by the wicked fuels his prayer (see vv. 22-25), his overarching concern is for his covenant Lord.  In verse 21 he says: “But you, O God my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!”

We are especially taken aback when we hear in this psalm echoes of the cross in v. 25: “I am an object of scorn.” “They wag their heads at me.”  How could these words possibly find themselves on the lips of our Lord Jesus, who prayed from the cross that the Father would forgive those who wagged their heads in scorn?

The resolution has to do with the covenant curses that belong to and will fall on the unrighteous, and with the curse Christ became for us as a covenant substitute, the Righteous for the unrighteous.  The answer is found in the cross itself.

But for the psalmist reeling under the circumstance that provoked his prayer and writing of the psalm, what does he mean by saying, “I am prayer”?  I think it has to do with how pervasive and comprehensive is his cry to God in his desperate state.  The totality of his being is seeking God.  He knows no other help, no other refuge against the foe.

Such is the state of his being and posture toward God that he has no life apart from God.  Like a flower continually oriented toward the sun for its needs, so the psalmist can turn nowhere else—not even for an instant.  He is consumed with God in his need.

That state of being is in evidence to its fullest at the cross.

Although we live in relationship with our God day in and day out, although we commune with Him and turn to Him as needs arise, casting our cares upon Him, it is those times of most overwhelming need that we burrow into His arms saying, “this is my situation, but I am prayer.” It is then that our very being becomes immersed in the presence and promises of our God—and, as with the psalmist in vv. 30-31, rejoices in such a great salvation and deliverance from those who condemn him.

I am reading a book manuscript on spiritual warfare.  The authors quote me on the subject and asked if I would read the book and provide a comment for publication.  After hearing their perspective on the topic, I readily agreed.  I believe the area of spiritual warfare is greatly neglected in discipleship today, despite the attention it receives throughout the New Testament at the hand of every NT writer.  Spiritual warfare needs to be brought to the fore in a biblically-balanced manner.

I have enjoyed the book but what struck me was something almost tangential to the topic, or at least broader than it.

We’ve all been humbled by the account of Martin Luther’s practice of prayer.  Story has it that he rose early to devote hours to prayer before his busy day.  If the day was especially busy, he would devote even more time to prayer.

But the authors of the book I read brought to bear a quote by Luther to which I can better relate.  Luther wrote this to his Christian brother and fellow worker, Melancthon.

I sit here at ease, hardened and unfeeling – alas! Praying little, grieving little for the Church of God, burning rather in the fierce fires of my untamed flesh. It comes to this: I should be afire in the spirit; in reality I am afire in the flesh, with lust, laziness, idleness, sleepiness. It is perhaps because you have all ceased praying for me that God has turned away from me… For the last eight days I have written nothing, nor prayer, nor studied, partly from self-indulgence, partly from another vexatious handicap… I really cannot stand it any longer;… Pray for me, I beg you, for in my seclusion here I am submerged in sins.

That sounds more like me!  Although it does seem like Luther is doing a bit of blame-shifting.  He suggests that his spiritual dryness is owed to Melancthon not praying for him.

But all Luther is doing is reflecting Paul’s own urgency for prayer throughout his epistles.  He constantly solicits the prayers of others for himself.  He knows full well his faithfulness, his competency, his courage depend on Christ.  So he urges others to support him in prayer.

I fail in this area.  I have not labored with intensity at enjoining the prayers of others.  I don’t think it solely a matter of pride.  I know and fully believe that apart from Christ I can do nothing.  I pray for myself in that regard.  So it’s not simply an issue of pride. No, I think my problem is unbelief.  I don’t really believe my desperate need for the supportive prayers of others.  I don’t have the audacity of faith to assign blame to others for my unfaithfulness and ineffectiveness.

But, admitting my sin and irresponsibility, I need to follow Luther’s example to seek out the prayers of others for me and to call them to account for that prayer.  I need prayer that I will pray.  I need prayer for myself as God’s instrument, for my message that God may empower it, for my tact that I would rely fully and continually on Christ.  I need prayer for protection from the assaults of the evil one.  I need prayer in my weaknesses and my strengths, so that it all may be of Christ.

So with great seriousness and expectation, I implore those so led to pray for me.

Twice a year I get away for a two-day personal pastoral retreat.   I use the time for projects or planning, but always for prayer.  The place I go to is wooded, with several hiking trails.  These paths are ideal for reflection and prayer.

A few of the trails are well worn by me. I tend to be a creature of habit and so stick to those I like.  This past retreat I decided to venture down a pathway I rarely take.  It slopes down (which means a trek back up) and opens up to a small lake.

Rather than keeping on moving, as I usually do, I decided to sit and take it all in.  As the Spirit brought things to mind, I lifted them up in prayer.  I explored avenues of thought He led me down.

Before long I began to notice things.  The shimmering of the water, light riding the little ripples pushed along by the breeze.  A school of guppies on a field trip darted this way and that along the water’s edge.  Like focusing on the windshield rather than the roadway, my eyes adjusted to notice the trees that lined the lake, inverted by reflection.  This was God’s tapestry!

My observations spurred communication with my Father.  Such a little lake, especially when compared to bigger ones.  My thoughts zoomed out from that lake to the region and the country and the world and the cosmos that dwarfed it.  So little!  Yet God was there, in the fullness of His being, with me.  Wow!

What came to mind was Jonah’s plant, so trifling in the larger scheme of things but so significant in other ways that required notice and thought. How many other expressions of God’s glory and goodness have I missed?

Psalm 46 declares that God is our refuge and strength.  Though the foundations of the world give way, even those that seem most secure and enduring – mountains – our God remains.  He is the Lord of hosts, the Creator, Sustainer God!  He is the God of Jacob, the covenant making, covenant keeping God in relationship with His people!

Psalm 46 not only declares these things, it discloses how we savor them.  “Be still and know that I am God.”  There is the key – being still and knowing.

My grandfather had a name for me when I was little.  Approaching 60 now, it escapes my memory.  It had something to with being antsy, being in perpetual motion, having the attention span of a gnat.

I thought I had outgrown that, but my time at the lake showed me otherwise.  I still have great difficulty in being still.  I wonder how much I miss that my Heavenly Father wants me to know.

SDG

Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011)

We can note another way God presents this contrast of sources of life.  Most of us are familiar with the shepherd of the twenty-third Psalm.  But the psalms tell us of another shepherd.  That other shepherd is given this preface:

“Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.” (Psalm 49:7-9)

Who is this shepherd unable to rescue from the pit?  Who is this shepherd who leads his flock to the grave? The psalmist tells us, “Death shall be their shepherd.” (Psalm 49:14)

Yet for those who by God’s grace have been loved and purchased and sought, the Lord shall be their shepherd.  They shall not want.  God himself is with them in goodness and mercy as they walk through the valley of the shadow of death cast under the oppressive sun of this fallen world.  All those vivid images of the twenty-third psalm belong to them. Nothing can wrest them from the Shepherd’s hand.  Nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  He was able to give his life as a ransom for others.  He did what we could not, nor could any other do for us.

As a pastor I’ve conducted many funerals.  Some have been for members of my own congregation.  Others, various funeral directors have tapped my services for those without a home church.  For those whose shepherd is the Lord, the funeral is not so much about death as it is about life.

At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus declared that he was the resurrection and the life, and that for those who trust in him, even though that person physically dies, he will live on into eternity.  Jesus didn’t stop there with that statement. He pressed the point. He asked Martha, “Do you believe this?”

At funerals of believers, those whose faith rests and rejoices in Jesus, I have the joy of leading in celebration of the grace of God in their lives.  Along with Martha, they did believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of sinners, the Good Shepherd, the fountain of life—and by believing they have life in his name.

Death is part of life in this world.  But for those who trust in Jesus, death is conquered.  In one sense, death at the end of life’s road is no longer an enemy.  It becomes an ally.  The Apostle expresses this when he says, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Let me close with this wonderful promise from the mouth of Jesus.  It is extended to those still living.   It leads us to a fountain of life that will never disappoint.

“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. …Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:21, 24)

SDG

Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011)

A passage I often share with those whose bodies are failing and racked with infirmity carries this same perspective.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Jim, the guy with the intestines popping out, refused to let go of working out, torn abs and all.  But it was more than his muscles being defined.  Rather, he allowed himself to be defined by his muscles.  Muscle mass was his identity.  It was his life.

The life of a young woman with perhaps the same penchant as Jim took quite a different course.  Joni Eareckson was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1950. She was the youngest of four sisters. Joni had it all—a loving family, athleticism, beauty, popularity.  But the July after she graduated from high school something happened that changed her life.

She was to meet her sister Kathy and some friends on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay to swim.  When she arrived, she jumped right in.  Listen to Joni tell the story.

“One hot July afternoon in 1967, I dove into a shallow lake and my life changed forever. I suffered a spinal cord fracture that left me paralyzed from the neck down, without use of my hands and legs. Lying in my hospital bed, I tried desperately to make sense of the horrible turn of events. I begged friends to assist me in suicide. Slit my wrists, dump pills down my throat, anything to end my misery!

I had so many questions. I believed in God, but I was angry with Him. How could my circumstance be a demonstration of His love and power? Surely He could have stopped it from happening. How can permanent, lifelong paralysis be a part of His loving plan for me? Unless I found answers, I didn’t see how this God could be worthy of my trust.

Steve, a friend of mine, took on my questions. He pointed me to Christ.

Now I believe that God’s purpose in my accident was to turn a stubborn kid into a woman who would reflect patience, endurance and a lively, optimistic hope of the heavenly glories above.”  (from Joni’s website)

Paradoxically, that event in 1967 saved Joni’s life.  It brought her to Jesus Christ for salvation and gave her new life in knowing and serving him. Joni Eareckson (now Tada), a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair, today is an internationally known artist who paints with the brush in her mouth, a talented vocalist, a radio host, an author of 17 books and an advocate for disabled persons worldwide.  Her physical state serves as a parable of one losing her life that she might gain it.

Joni had lost it all by our culture’s standards.  It was when God lifted her eyes to see him, and by his grace led her to gain Christ that she found beauty that will not fade with age and look forward to a resurrected body free from the ravages of life under the sun.

Adapted from Chapter Nine, “The Vanity of Strength and Beauty” from Making Sanity Out of Vanity: Christian realism in the book of Ecclesiastes by Stanley D. Gale (EP Books, 2011)

Pursuing the Fountain of Life

Finding our pursuit of the fountain of youth a dead end, we now turn our attention to another fountain.  This one is given by God himself—and he tells us how to find it.

Jesus was traveling in a region called Samaria.  It had been long journey.  Jesus was tired.  He sat down beside a well.  Before long a woman came to draw water from the well, as she likely did every day.  This day would change her life.

Jesus asked her for some water.  The Samaritan woman was surprised because the culture didn’t allow for that interaction.  But Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)

The woman was confused.  Here Jesus was asking her for water, but he had nothing to draw water from the well even for himself.  How could he give her water?

That’s when Jesus explains what he means.  “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

What is Jesus talking about?  Behind his words lay his mission for coming into this world.  In the face of the certainty of death, Jesus came to bring life.  He died on the cross for sinners and was raised to life.  Jesus conquered death.

One of the passages we often hear read at funerals spells it out.  Jesus was talking to a woman named Martha.  Her brother Lazarus had died.  As you might expect, she was heartbroken.  This is what Jesus said to her:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Jesus is the living water, the fountain of life, from which waters of eternal life flow.  We drink of that living water through faith that believes in Jesus.

The hope of the gospel, God’s message of life found in Jesus, leads us to find hope and life not by attempts to cling to youth but in God. Our efforts to find life and meaning and endurance in youth are misplaced, seeking hope and remedy that will only disappoint.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah tells something interesting about God and also shows us just how far youth will take us.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”  (Isaiah 40:28-31)

The best that youth can offer will not be enough, even if we could recapture it.  The strength of youth may be able to hold the branch to keep from falling to the valley below a bit longer than the aged can, but it’s just a matter of time when that grip will weaken and fail. The mouth of the grave gapes open below all who breathe and none cannot escape its jaws. God offers hope as he directs us away from self-effort of our trying to earn our way to heaven and points us to his Son, Jesus.

True and enduring physical fitness are found not in a personal trainer but in the personal Savior, in whom the harsh reality of death is swallowed up in victory.   Hear the declaration of victory posted by the apostle as he describes the ultimate makeover.

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”  “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)

That hope for tomorrow transforms the pains and problems of today.  Listen to what the apostle says elsewhere: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”