ULTIMATE

ULTIMATE

There is irony regarding what people want out of life. Human beings live in a world where life ends in death, and it is only natural that they should groan for more than that, natural to desire liberation from decay and death. As Scripture puts it:

"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 glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" (Rom. 8:20-22).

Jesus said that he came to our world for this very reason: to release us from our fear of death and to give us this abundant life (Jn. 10:10) for which we cry out. Yet most of the world rejects this offer of abundant life. That is the irony, that the world rejects him who can give them the very thing they so ardently yearn for.

"The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him" (Jn. 1:9-11).

Why is this so? Why does the world reject the only one (Acts 4:12) who can give them the very thing they so desperately need and want? It is because they do not want to pay the price to receive it, for the abundant life in Christ is very costly, even all that one has and is:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14:26).

Notice that Jesus is speaking of being a disciple, not of salvation. We know from Scripture that salvation is free:

"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 5:16).

But, though accepting salvation in Jesus as Savior is free and could not be earned even if we tried (and many do), realizing the abundant life in him is not free, not always easy, but costs us dearly; in fact, costs us everything.

"Then Peter said in reply, 'Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?'  Jesus said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first'" (Mt. 19:27-30).

Notice that once again Jesus refers to one's family, the one thing that is closest to most people's heart. Nothing must come before him if one desires to have the abundant life he came to bring. It is all or nothing. That is the way because he is the Way: "I am  . . . the way" (Jn. 14:6).

But that is not the message people want to hear. They want an easier way.

"For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who tell the seers, 'Don't see!' and to the prophets, 'Don't prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.'" (Isaiah 30:9-11).

It is natural, sinful human nature to want the easy way out. Jesus knew full well this natural human trait, just as he knew everything else about the human heart:

"But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man" (Jn. 2:24,25).

Because he knew so well this perverse nature of the human heart, that though people claimed they wanted the abundant life he came to bring them, they would refuse to pay the price to receive it, which is the surrender of those same lives to him, but would seek an easier way--because he knew all this, he said:

"Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Lk. 7:13,14).

The road, the way, that leads to life is narrow indeed; the gate is small indeed--even just one person: Jesus Christ, the single gate and one shepherd who leads those who will follow him as his sheep out into verdant pastures, the abundant life they so desire.

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture" (Jn. 10:9).

In Jesus, we human beings who cry out from the depths of our hearts for a fuller life are promised exactly that. But many refuse to take that offer because of the cost. It is both sad and tragic that so many people are satisfied with a life that is far below what could be theirs. Food, family, friends and fun--that is the world's idea of life. A dog is satisfied with the same things.

"Their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things" (Ph. 3:19).

Is it not a shameful thing to waste one's life pursuing things that do not last when God has offered us true life that is eternal? Jesus thought so. He said:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" (Mt. 6:25).

Life is indeed more important than any of these things. Why is it, then, that so few ever seem to realize this? Why do so many satisfy themselves with the same pleasures that satisfy a dog, when they could have so much more out of life, have true life in him who is life ("I am . . . the life"--Jn. 14:6)?

It is because they do not have a true vision of who God is and what he is offering them. They see only this life and this world, not opening their eyes to the far greater life and world and God of that other world that dwarfs this one to insignificance by comparison. Lack of vision is the crucial and error that so many make. And it is a fatal error.

"Where there is no vision , the people perish" (Prov. 29:18 KJV).

The vision that so many people have of God is a human vision, one that arises from their own imagination or reasoning or the philosophies of the world, rather than God's own revelation of himself in his Word. It is no wonder, then, that so many settle for a life that is less than life, because they have never seen the greater life that could be theirs in Jesus Christ, who is God. They have a faulty vision of God. They settle for relatives instead of the absolutes of God; they have something less than the ultimate--and that is what they really want, despite their claims otherwise.

People claim they want the ultimate in life, all that life has to offer. But when it comes right down to it, they are deceiving themselves, for if they truly wanted the ultimate in life, they would want God, who is the ultimate Ultimate.

"He is Lord of Lords and King of kings" (Rev. 17:14).

"For even if there are so-called gods . . . (as indeed there are many 'gods' and many 'lords'), yet for us there is but one God, the Father . . . and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ . . . but not everyone knows this" (1 Cor 8:5-7).

There it is again: not everyone knows this. And Scripture says that those who do not know this are doomed to be without life forever.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hos 4:6).

They do not know, they do not see; they don't want to see the Ultimate who cannot be escaped, though they try. And why do they seek to avoid the Ultimate? Because of who he is and who they are.

"For the LORD your God is God  of gods , and Lord of lords , a great God, a mighty, and a terrible God" (Dt. 10:17 KJV).

Terrible here, of course, means causing fear or dread. And what do human beings have to dread about being in the presence of God? The answer is found in Hosea:

"For I am God, and not man--the Holy One among you" (Hos. 11:9).

Scripture here specifically singles out God's holiness as that which makes him so other to us. In fact, that is one meaning of holiness, that of being separate, distinct, "other". Yet, though he is so different from us, so other, we are also strongly linked to him, having been made in his likeness (Gen. 1:26). And though he is holy and so far above us, he created us to have life with him, only in him, so that those who try to live apart from him attempt the impossible, to live apart from the only life there is, him who is life, Jesus Christ: "I am . . . the life" (Jn. 14:6). There is no life outside of Jesus Christ, who is the God who is life, who is the Ultimate.

Our life has a beginning and an end, a first breath and a last. Both are found in God:

"I am the alpha and the omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Rev. 22:13).

This is ultimate. And there is no escaping the ultimate. If only people would not try but would accept the ultimate that cannot be avoided, just as they could not avoid being born nor avoid dying. What cannot be avoided must be confronted. Instead of seeking to avoid the ultimate, why not embrace it. That is the way to true life that ends up in heaven forever with him who is life. This is the way.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Is 55:9).

The thoughts and comments that will be shared on this site will focus on this ultimate Way of God, Jesus Christ, and I invite you to explore other messages that appear here and in the archives. God's blessings to you as you reach out for the Ultimate, Jesus Christ.