"Live for heaven and you get earth thrown in; live for earth and you get neither." ~C.S. Lewis
Sometimes I wonder if our world could possibly get more shallow. Like when I watch 7-year-olds getting brand-new iPod touches for Christmas. Or when I see teenagers who'd rather surf the internet on their phones than talk to you. Or Christian young people who are swept up in the high school soap-opera of who-likes-who rather than being consumed with Christ.
I'm currently reading this super-amazing book, Tramp for the Lord, by Corrie ten Boom. Corrie lived through an unimaginably hideous German concentration camp during World War II (for more on that story, read her book The Hiding Place). She was barely fed, forced to stand in the freezing cold for hours in threadbare rags, made to watch her sister Betsie and many other women die under the horrible cruelities of the guards. Just reading about it gives me the heeby-geebies, but Corrie knew that, to those who have found Jesus, where He is, it is heaven:
"Betsie and I walked to the square where roll call was being held in the concentration camp. ..The head of our barracks was so cruel that she had sent us out into the very cold outdoors a full hour too early. Betsie's hand was in mind. We went to the square by a different way from the rest of our barracks-mates. We were three as we walked with the Lord and talked with Him. 'Isn't this a bit of heaven!' Betsie had said. 'And Lord, this is a small foretaste. One day we will see You face to face, but thank You that even now You are giving us the joy of walking and talking with You.' Heaven in the midst of hell. Light in the midst of darkness. What a security!"
And farther on in the book...
"There [in Korea] I saw the poorest shack I had ever seen. It was a tiny lean-to, made from materials collected from the garbage heap--pieces of cardboard, tin cans which had been smashed flat, old boards...As we drove past, though, I heard the beautiful voice of a woman singing. Seldom, even in the concert halls of Europe, had I heard such a sweet voice. We stopped the car and listened, for it was like the song of a skylark. I said to the missionary who was travelling with me, 'Do you know that song?' 'Yes,' she said, 'it says, Where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there."
This is true beauty. Realizing that all the shallow, material comforts and fads of this world mean nothing. In the lowest valey or on the highest mountaintop there is joy if Jesus is there. That is what life should be: Living for something far greater than comfort or fun or popularity. Living for a Savior, being so enraptured with His love that nothing can separate you from His joy.
Oh Jesus, please show us what we were Meant to Live for.
Switchfoot: Meant to Live official music video
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