Time is but a breath, so we'd better breathe it

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy, I can only conclude that I was not made for here. If the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary, then of course I’ll feel nude when to where I’m destined I’m compared.

Am I lost or just less found? On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way?

Is this a soul that stirs in me, is it breaking free, wanting to come alive?

‘Cause my comfort would prefer for me to be numb and avoid the impending birth of who I want born to become.

Speak to me; in the light of the dawn, mercy comes with the morning.

I will sigh and with all creation groan as I wait for hope to come for me.

For we are not long here, our time is but a breath, so we’d better breathe it.

And I was made to live, I was made to love, I was made to know You.

Hope is coming for me… He’s coming.

Brooke Fraser’s musings on CS Lewis' thoughts as expressed in ‘Mere Christianity’. 

I love this song, it plunges down to the depth of my soul and stirs in me a deep longing for God. This song helps me bow down low and elevate Christ to the throne, because He reminds me through these words that life is not long, and it is not our ultimate reality: Heaven is, and Jesus is coming to take me by the hand and walk with me into eternity. This song helps me picture my Lover; a gentle and personal smile in His eyes. He is the one who knows me, who chooses me, and who steps into the role of Man that my heart has carved out.

And what a Man! Jesus is the most wonderful man, and He is mysteriously mine in some way. I have had glimpses of Him through my life, and I know that I will recognise Him when I meet Him, for His likeness is familiar to me.

And yet… here comes the self-centeredness again… how I struggle! I am not the centre of Christ’s world, even though He uses language of love to draw me in, but He must be the centre of mine, seated on the throne of my heart, and my constant source of wonder and enjoyment. Such problems arise when I forget God’s Sovereignty and honour my own desires above His own. They are so poor in comparison; so earthy and selfish leaving me cold and dissatisfied. Quite rightly so, because God is changing my desires to fit His purposes for my life, and so it is obvious that they do not cater for my comfort-seeking routine anymore!

Such a battle. From the profound to the mundane… do I choose to check Facebook, or do I feed my Spirit with the truth of God’s Word, soaking my soul with Christ’s Living Water and satisfying my inner self? It is a difficult, subtle decision! The benefits of both contrast in depth and eternal significance, and yet it is still a daily battle to choose right! And most of the time I fail. God reminds me frequently that I am a wretch when I live one day without reference to Him – I recognise the filth of my own selfishness and bitterness. Only when I constantly acknowledge His presence and ask Him for help can these human, fallen characteristics bow the knee to the purity of Christ.

I feel like David in Psalm 51, crying out to God for the sin that runs through his veins since conception. I am so aware of my imperfection, and see it clearly as I walk through this strange culture of unfamiliarity, which assaults my reason and challenges my patience. God, create in me a clean heart.

Thank God for Jesus. Without Him, I would be scuppered… God sees Jesus’ sacrifice covering my sin, and He accepts me as the pure and righteous child that Christ is. He happily exchanges my sin, filth and disobedience with the perfection of Jesus because He loves me and is creating for Himself a Bride with whom to share heaven. I am nothing without Christ – even a good life well lived ends in nothing if the soul is not redeemed by Jesus. Thank God for His initiation! I would not have come had He not called. I am grateful for eternal hope, and also for purification in this life, for it is the pathway of peace; the only way to find meaning and purpose on earth.

For we are not long here, our time is but a breath, so we’d better breathe it.

And I was made to live, I was made to love, I was made to know You.

Hope is coming for me… He’s coming.