H,
There is that rush you get when salvation finally comes to your soul. It is a feeling of invincibility. Those of us who finally succumb to the Pentecostal bite are told we are kings, princes, sons of the most high but we will die like me if we do not learn the lingo. If we do not act as if. Suddenly all our fears have a purpose: to lead us to learning the strange language of exceptionalism. We are not like everyone else. We do not have the same experience on the earth. They are food for Satan and we are servants of God. There is a hedge around us and a light within us that makes us walk on the higher path. And our destiny is sure. We are going to live forever in the high places with God. All we have to do now is make a living that contrasts with the dead lives amongst us. All we have to do is show these zombies how it is done and some of them may choose the brighter path. The ambition and the destiny come together into purpose.
Now, the point of all these things has been lost in the gulf between doing a thing and being a person. Blaise Pascal said: ““All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” The lack of contemplation is always a recipe for misuse of principles. We form dogma out of our own fallen hearts because we cannot sit still against the wave of criticism, self-doubt, failure and boredom. We need to have a thing to do because we are scared of being.
If we are told that there is only one ambition and there is only one destiny it would shake us. Well, there is only one ambition- to be like Christ- and there is only one destiny-to be with God. It does not matter how old you are or how successful you are. Christ even made the point that material wealth is more of a hindrance than a help. It does not matter if you leave you mark on the world and it will count for nothing if a few years after death you are only in a history book. All are but a minute compared to the real thing that is eternity. All the things we fear have no bearing on the eternal life in God. “Death, what else have you got?” the apostle dared to say.
“Ordinary Life on earth what else can you offer?” we should dare to ask ourselves every day.