Living for what matters in the end

I am neither at the beginning nor am I at the end, somewhere past the middle I suppose, I hope. Our little grandson is at the beginning, hopefully a long way from the end, but this past year I was reminded that we might be closer to end regardless of far we think we are from the end.We just ended another year and find ourselves at the beginning of a new one. I, like you, had no idea what last year would hold, that’s true again for this year. We do know it will bring us 365 days closer to end, if the end does not arrive sooner. This year might also bring us closer to grief, to loss, or our dreams coming true, to success we have labored for, to love, to betrayal, to challenges we did not imagine, to incredible opportunities, we just don’t know. We do know the days of this year will pass no matter what, what will matter again is how you and I will fill those days, how you and I will react to what those days will bring, to what life throws at us.As the Bible, God’s written revelation, tells us about the beginning of humanity it lists men who lived for an incredibly long time but it singles out two, they did more than just live, Enoch an Noah walked with God (Genesis 5:22, 6:9). Life is more about how we live it than for how long we live it. We don’t know much about Enoch except that he walked with God and then one day God just took him from this temporal into the eternal. We get some more detail about Noah, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time (generation); Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9 NASB, parenthesis mine). That’s how God characterized him long before he told him to build the ark. What is even more astounding is that the generation Noah lived in is described as wicked to point of every thought and imagination being evil (Genesis 6:5).So as you and I are walking into a new year I hope we don’t spend too much time worrying how close we are to the end, that we won’t just settle for mere living, but that we are determined to walk with God in this year regardless of what happens or what we might face. I hope we walk so closely with God that if he needs an ark to be build he can call on us, that in the midst of evil and wickedness he can use us for purposes of salvation. I hope we will live in the present for matters in the end.To God be all glory, love you Pastor Hans