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One Day We Shall Know

Jesus said, “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing...” (John 16:23a). Just before our Lord went to the cross, He gave His disciples this promise: one day all questions will be answered. They will be answered so thoroughly that He promised we would have no more questions; we shall understand. Perhaps I am talking to someone now whose mind is caught in the conundrum of events beyond your control. Dreams that have seemingly died, relationships that have gone awry or faith that appears dashed on the rocks of an unwelcome reality. In the context our Lord said, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing...” (John 16:21-23a). As pastor, I have walked into many a hospital room where hours of labor have been invested...discomfort beyond description in the process of childbirth. Without exception when I see a mom and her newborn, Mom is beaming with exuberant joy, never telling me the pain, the problems, but always the joy, the delight and the miracle that God has granted in the life of her baby. And in that room, we have no questions. One day we shall stand before Jesus and it’s not going to be “twenty questions” or an inquisition as to why suffering or why things turned out differently. No more questions. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (I Corinthians 13:12). If we know, no questions are necessary. Therefore in view of this truth,

1. Let us not worry.

Sometimes I have a hard time discerning between worries and burdens. Here are two differentiating factors: worries are heavy, burdens are light. Worries breed hopelessness; burdens birth hope. We are commanded, “Be careful for nothing…” (Philippians 4:6a), in other words don’t be worried about anything. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). The old expression, “It will all come out in the wash” applies very well with our subject. One day we will stand before Jesus and all questions will be answered then, therefore, we need not worry now, because like a soiled garment, once it comes out on the other side of the wash it will be restored. The Bible says, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new…” (Revelation 22:4,5). Tears are wiped away because Christ one day will all things new!

2. Let us take comfort in knowing that God knows.

Bill Glass was a famous football player who played for the Cleveland Browns. He is also an outstanding Christian. There were just a couple of minutes left in the championship game. In that next play the national championship was at stake. The coach said to Bill, “I want you to knock a hole in the line so that our quarterback can “tip-toe-through-the-tulips” into the end zone.” If they obtained the touchdown, the championship was assured. When Glass got on the line of scrimmage, he said, “Without exaggeration, right in front of me was the largest man in the NFL and then right next to him was the second largest man in the NFL.” So when Bill Glass got down to throw his block, he was in a prayer mode as well. He explained, “The ball was snapped and I hit the biggest man with everything I had. It was a very cold day in Cleveland; the ground was frozen and due to slipperiness of the soil, the huge man began to lose balance and in attempt to steady himself, he flung his arms open and now he was taking the second biggest man down with him. Well, just before they fell they took me underneath them and then the pile up took place and I was on the bottom. The last thing I remember on the way down was seeing the quarterback easily breeze into the end zone. The hole I knocked was so wide that grandma could have gotten through in her wheelchair. There I was buried as one player after another was falling on top of me. I could hardly breathe. Finally, they began to pull the players off me and I jumped to my feet to see the outcome. I could hear the crowd screaming, but I couldn’t see a thing! I couldn’t see because the frozen turf was plugging my eye sockets. I ripped my helmet off, scooped out the frozen tundra and spit out mud, blood and chipped teeth. When I saw the quarterback, he had already been hoisted to our team’s shoulders and there he was, not a stain or even dirt on his uniform. I looked and saw everyone in our bleachers looking at the quarterback and cheering. Why, even everyone on the opposing side was looking at him. I was the one who knocked the hole big enough to get a Mac truck through. I was the one who made it possible for our team to score. Then I started walking back toward the sidelines and there on the side was the coach, and he was not looking at the quarterback -- he was looking straight at me. When my eyes met his, he gave me a big smile and the “ok” sign with his hand. At that moment, I knew that he knew and everything else did not matter.” You see it did not matter at that point what the whole crowd and stadium thought as long as Bill Glass did what the coach had asked him to do and pleased him. Too many people have “pleasing the grandstand fever.” We are not to play to the grandstands in life; we are to please God alone. It’s what Jesus desires from us and it matters not what the crowd may think or how they respond. One day we’ll know why, but until then, let us take great pleasure in knowing that God knows and that is all that really matters. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Timothy 2:4). Jesus said, “…for I do always those things that please Him” (John 8:29).

3. Let us live in the realm of the eternal, not temporary.

I think of this verse often: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (II Corinthians 4:18). Everything that we see and operate within this world below will one day be gone and only what’s done for Christ will last. Having the right perspective in life will help us do the will of God and serve Him even when the outcome did not fulfill our preconceived ideas of the way we perceived things were supposed to turn out. I think all of us will be surprised at some things in our life that were so important to us were not that important to God and we will also discover things that were not that important to us were very important to God. Jesus said, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). Jesus is reminding us of the value of spending time and being spent for the least of God’s chosen flock. After Paul had met with the most influential people in the church he said, “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me” (Galatians 2:6). The world will say, it’s not what you know, but who you know that puts you ahead in life. God says the opposite: care for the least, don’t bend over backward for the prestigious and great will your reward be in heaven. It is not what matters for time, but what matters for eternity that makes the difference.

 

-Pastor Pope-