It Helps When We Know How Things Will End

With football season only a couple of weeks away, avid fans are anticipating the excitement, anxiety and uncertainty that starts with the opening kickoff and continues until the final seconds tick off the clock. The excitement comes from watching athletes competing against each other, seeing them perform at levels that average guys like me can’t even imagine doing. We marvel at their strength, speed and skill.

 

The anxiety and uncertainty, however, are caused by not knowing the final outcome of the games. Especially in rivalry games, or contests when the teams seem evenly matched, nails are chewed, feet paced, TVs yelled at, and things even get tossed in frustration. When the favorite team falls behind, we wonder, ‘How will they be able to catch up?’ Even when our team is in the lead, we fret over whether they can hold onto the winning margin.

Would our nerves be on edge and emotions so close to boiling over if we knew the outcome in advance? Of course not. If you’ve ever recorded a game to watch later and took a peek at the final score, viewing the replay didn’t make you as nervous. Right?

 

It's similar with watching a fast-paced movie thriller or reading a riveting murder mystery. The suspense keeps us on edge, even if we have a strong suspicion good will conquer evil at the end. But if we’ve read the “spoiler alert,” or if someone has already told us it was Mr. Mustard in the library with the candlestick who did it, we’re not as likely to hear Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” running through our minds.

 

These days there’s lots to feel anxious and uncertain about. Covid-19 has become the virus that refuses to go away, despite the vaccines, masks, social distancing and shutdowns we were told would deter it. “Inflation” has returned to our vocabularies, with prices for gas, groceries and just about everything going up. Many of us have decided watching the news isn’t good for our mental and emotional health, with the relentless gloom-and-doom, “the sky is falling” reporting. Living in constant fear and doubt aren’t good neighborhoods.

 

We find ourselves on edge, our tension levels high, because in life – as in sports and entertainment – we often don’t know how things are going to end. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some way to be able to turn to the last page and learn everything is going to work out?

 

Actually, there is a way. One many people choose not to use. It’s the Bible, which candidly and honestly records humanity’s faults and failings, but also presents God’s solutions – including a happy ending. In fact, Jesus Christ declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). 

 

He also asserted that by following Him, we can have confidence things will end very, very well. Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms…. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

 

Fear and uncertainty regarding the future have been a common companions throughout history. Writing to Christ followers in ancient Corinth, the apostle Paul gave this assurance: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed…then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’… But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:51-56).

 

Because of this great, unwavering promise, we can embrace for ourselves the admonition Paul gave to his young protégé, Timothy, reminding him, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

 

So whenever we find ourselves feeling fearful or anxious, for whatever reason, we need to remember God has already written the ending to this grand story. It will be glorious, more joyous than anything our finite minds can imagine. 

We read in the final book of the Bible, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (Revelation 21:1-4). 

Don’t you just love happy endings? 

Major Improvement, Or Absolute Transformation?

Have you ever watched any of those home improvement shows lately? I occasionally join my wife in viewing some of them. Besides the “drama” of these so-called reality shows, there’s actually a lot you can learn from them.

 

If you’ve never struggled with being envious or coveting, but have wondered what those vices are like, I highly recommend catching one of these shows. Invariably, the designers and craftspeople do things with home renovations and remodeling that make you think, “Wow, I wish our house looked like that!”

 If you’ve been praying, “Lord, lead me not into temptation,” maybe it would be best if you don’t watch. But if you feel confident it wouldn’t do much harm to your personal contentment scale, you might want to give it a try. The open floor plans with stunning hardwoods, immaculate “en suite” bathrooms, state-of-the-art kitchens and elaborate man-caves are wonders to behold.

 

The thing I like best about these shows is how they illustrate something God does every day: taking broken things and turning them into things of beauty. Recently we viewed a show in which the client wanted the craftsman/designer couple to refurbish his late father’s old, rundown cabin. 

 

Since I’ll never be mistaken for a handyman, seeing the mess the fellow wanted them to bring back to life, I was skeptical. If they’d asked me which tool to start the project with, I would have suggested a bulldozer. Or a wrecking ball. Of course, they chose neither of those options. Instead, they turned the rickety, broken structure, practically rubble, into a cozy, safe, beautiful testament to the fine art of home renovation.

 

Similarly – but in a far more profound sense – God does this every day. Genesis 1 tells us about His work of creation; the rest of the Bible recounts the Lord’s continual work of re-creating. Taking broken, sinful individuals and turning them into “new creations,” as 2 Corinthians 5:17 states. This is hardly rare. I’ve met thousands of men and women whose lives have been changed for all of eternity after their encounters with Jesus Christ.

 

They range from the battle-scarred Marine, who now devotes his life to helping military vets struggling with PTSD and other issues, to the business executive whose life’s passion once was profits but now is pointing others to purpose and meaning through the Lord. 

 

The Scriptures are filled with examples of miraculously changed lives, including Abraham, whom God promised would become the father of many nations; David, who rose from a caretaker of sheep to the king of Israel; Nehemiah, a king’s cupbearer who directed the rebuilding of Jerusalem; impetuous Peter, becoming one of the primary leaders of the first-century Church; and Paul, who transformed from persecutor of Christians to a fearless preacher of the Gospel.

 

One difference, however, between the HGTV-style productions and God’s work is that instead of trying to fix and improve upon the original, the Lord starts all over, building new creations from scratch spiritually. Romans 6:4 declares that as we receive Christ and identify with His atoning sacrifice on the cross, “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” 

 

Several verses later, the apostle Paul, writer of the letter to the church in Rome, says, “The death [Jesus] died, he died to sin once and for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:10-11). God’s call on our lives is not to work harder and try to do better, but to live out the new life graciously given to us through Christ.

 

New and absolutely transformed – these are God’s specialties. Even in the Old Testament, God said, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

 

His work of transformation, replacing the old and broken, continues throughout the Bible, including its last book, Revelation: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband…. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4). Sounds like a whole lot more than a home makeover! 

Reflecting on Restorations

Once in a while as I’m driving around, I’ll spot an antique car on the roadway that someone has restored. It might be a classic, high-finned 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, an iconic 1967 Mustang Coupe, or maybe even a stately 1929 Pierce Arrow. Even though I’m not mechanical, I have great appreciation for people adept at taking an old car and painstakingly bringing it back to its original glory. Perhaps even better.

Vintage cars like this 1956 Chevy
Bel Air can't help catching our eyes.

I feel the same way about those who enjoy restoring old furniture. Some folks can go to a garage sale or antique store, find something most of us would dismiss as junk, and transform it into something of beauty and renewed usefulness. It takes skill – and tender, loving care – to take something that’s become old and worn and turn it into a new thing.

A friend of mine in Kansas City has spent much of his life in professional photography. In recent years he’s developed a business of restoring old photographs. Some of these date back to the early 1900s, and he delights in serving his customers by restoring faded images into treasured, high-quality pictures of beloved family members, distant ancestors, or historical settings.

Since we’re still in the glow of the new year – before we get a sobering reminder that for the most part, not much has changed from 2018 – I’ve been thinking about another kind of restoration, perhaps the best kind: personal, spiritual restoration.

I will never forget the epiphany I received more than 30 years ago that helped me to understand how much God loves making new things. We can look to the creation story in Genesis, or the account of Noah when the Lord decided He needed to start all over with humankind. But in the New Testament, we see a different kind of “new,” one that He performs from the inside out.

At the time of my revelation, I had been determinedly trying to “live the Christian life,” and doing a miserable job of it. When I encountered 2 Corinthians 5:17, I reasoned it couldn’t possibly apply to me, because I felt I was nothing like what it described. It declares,“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” At that time, that hardly sounded like me – I felt like the same old knucklehead I had always been.

A key to understanding this is the preceding verse, which states, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” Like many people, particularly in our pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps, “I did it my way” culture, I had been attempting to change myself, to fix my flaws. That, I discovered, is not how God works.

For instance, Romans 6:4 informs us,“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” The Lord has no interest in tweaking our old life; He wants to undertake a complete transformation, restoring us into the people He’s always intended for us to be – in Christ.

This is occurring all over the world, regardless of nationality, culture or dialect. God is aggressively working in each of His children to make them into new creations (another translation calls us “new creatures”). And this won’t be ending soon. In fact, the Scriptures tell us it will continue through the end of time as we know it.

In Revelation 21:1-5 we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’…” 

So the next time you see a vintage automobile or truck tooling down the road, admire a chair or chest of drawers someone has refurbished, or study a restored photograph, let that be a reminder that God is the expert at that, making old, broken things new, works of art for His eternal pleasure.

The Lord wants to do that in each of our lives. He desires to take us “just as I am,” as the old hymn says, and embark in a lifelong process of restoring us into the people He wants us to be. For His glory.

Previews of Coming Attractions

When my wife and I go to a movie, she hates sitting through the “coming attractions,” but I enjoy them. They offer a good clue as to whether I’d want to see an upcoming film. To me, they’re as much a part of the experience as popcorn.

When I was a boy, long before the advent of cable TV, DVDs and the Internet, my friends and I would go to the movies frequently, always certain to arrive in time for the “previews,” as we called them back then. Now they call them "trailers" for some reason, although I can't figure out how they can "trail" when they come before the feature film. Nevertheless, I remember the anticipation we felt upon learning some new western, sci-fi or adventure film, or Disney production was coming soon. Those early glimpses were almost worth the price of admission.

Of course, we experience the thrill of coming attractions in other ways: perusing a travel brochure and discovering what we might find in visiting a new city or country; hearing the announcement of a new technological innovation (as I write this, many people have been counting the days until they can buy their first Apple watch); hearing about an exciting new automobile about to come off the assembly line; or seeing an ad or commercial about a favorite musical group coming to town.

TV series offer previews at the end of each episode to motivate us to tune in again next week. Radio talk shows give “teasers” at the close of every segment to keep us listening through the commercials. Even newspapers (if you still read them) and magazines use previews to get readers to look forward to the next issue.

One reason previews of coming attractions are so appealing is because of past experience. Encouraged by the preview, we went to the event, watched the show or bought the product and enjoyed it. Our anticipation was justified, so we trust future previews will be just as accurate in alerting us about what’s to come.

Maybe that’s the Bible also offers “previews of coming attractions.” Jesus used them often with His followers. For instance, He declared, “In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). It was His way of assuring them of a bright, eternal future.

Jesus used that assurance to help His disciples in clarifying what their priorities should be and where to focus their efforts: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

The Old Testament is filled with previews – referred to as prophesies. Hundreds of them point to the coming Messiah, which were fulfilled by Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection. Nowhere in the Scriptures, however, are “previews of coming attractions” more plentiful than the Book of Revelation.

It describes in vivid detail what Heaven will be like, some of the events that will take place there, and what those who have been “redeemed by the blood of the Lamb” can expect. It talks of “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…. Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:1-3).

We currently live in a world often filled with pain and sorrow. The world to come, the passage continues, promises an end to that. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:5). Can you imagine that?

That’s why, the way I see it, the Bible offers hope – confident assurance – for both the present and the infinite future. It teaches us how to live in this life, and also assures us of a glorious existence on what I like to call “the other side of eternity,” one that we can’t even imagine.

But ever since I became a follower of Christ, the previews of coming attractions I’ve read about have proved to be as good as promised, often even better. So based on past and present experience, I’m excited by the previews I’ve seen about the life to come. They’re like God is saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”