Farther Along...the Wayfarer 3/30/16

Farther Along
3/30/16

1 Corinthians 13:9-12 King James Version (KJV)

⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

¹⁰ But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

¹² 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.

Once again I take a title from the songs I have heard and sung and loved throughout a life that has seen musical styles and tastes change rapidly with each new generation, yet somehow, retaining melodies and words from a past longer than my own, with those new generations eventually learning to love many of them as much as I do as well.

I do not quite recall when I first heard this particular hymn, but I well remember the little church where It was first heard with all the harmony joined so wonderfully as shaped notes were read and sung by my grandparent’s generation.

This was the generation that endured much, gave more than most before it and EARNED the title of the greatest generation.

The plaintive cries of this hymn embody much of the mindset of that generation that once defined the nation in which I came of age, and continue to embody the mindset of those who recognize and feel the loss of what they built as it is taken from us by others who have never comprehended any of what is contained in this old hymn.

“Tempted and tried we’re oft’ made to wonder, why it should be thus, all the day long.

While there are others, living about us, never molested tho’ in the wrong.

When death has come and taken our loved ones, It leaves our home so lonely and drear;

Then do we wonder why others prosper, Living so wicked year after year.

Faithful to death said our loving Master, A few more days to labor and wait;

Toils of the road will then seem as nothing, As we sweep through the beautiful gate.

When we see Jesus coming in glory, When he comes from His home in the sky;

Then we shall meet him in that bright mansion, We’ll understand it all by and by.

Farther along we’ll know all about it, Farther along we’ll understand why;

Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, We’ll understand it  all by and by.”

Youth cannot comprehend the youth that once existed in the aged until age exists within those who were once young.

History is dry and pointless in the onrush of NOW, the sacrifices made in the past lie in the past, seldom remembered and even less seldom appreciated until that NOW forces its way forward with the same pain and suffering endured that could have been avoided if lessons learned could be passed on and applied by those rushing into the same suffering felt, endured, and overcome by those who have gone before them.

Those who have recognized and overcome evil in their time, continue to recognize what ensues as all those lessons are lost to generations that follow.

This happens, in part, as each generation sets out to create a better, more prosperous, more generous, more peaceful life for their progeny, somehow forgetting to teach the privation and misery that must occur unless the challenges and temptations are faced with something more than simply an attitude of entitlement without effort.

Ease begets apathy toward the privation of others, as most see only the benefits to be gained by forsaking any ethic of labor, replacing that ethic with avarice and immediate gratification of want, never having to have considered need, with that need having been supplied by those who themselves once knew that privation.

Temptation for shortcuts to attain wants existed for that generation of the past as surely as it exists for the generations of the present.

The difference then was that the dangers of those shortcuts were commonly acknowledged and shunned willingly, because something else had been taught as well that instilled that generation with the patience to endure, and the stoicism to make any needed sacrifice to truly allow for a better life for their children.

What was taught was a fear of God and a respect for God’s word, and the truths held within that word that transcended generations past, struggles and privations past and provided promise for those willing to adhere to what it taught.

War was not fought by a selected few, but was a privation shared by all, affecting all, bringing each family the compassion for the other families facing the same fear of loss of loved ones, the same concern for the wellbeing of sons, brothers, husbands, friends and the extended families of each of them for body and SOUL of the youth of that time, and by extension for all time.

The things that were happening in distant places with strange names bore import within each neighborhood, and each home.

God was called upon fervently and often to deliver mercy and grace and salvation for those loved ones.

God responded with mercy and grace and salvation in return to a thankful and worshipping people who had remembered Him in their time of trial and temptation.

Faith was evident, both on battlefields and at home as sacrifices were made in both places to assure that darkness would not be allowed to envelop an entire planet, and that hope would not be extinguished for a future that envisioned generations continuing to honor, worship and follow the tenets of that God of mercy claimed by those calling so loudly on His name.

Once that privation and fear were ended, the deterioration set in, as God was forgotten by so many, as the necessity to attain and maintain that mercy and grace were relegated to a time past.

Concentration on the physical, and only on the physical took precedence over the spiritual, the temporal and temporary took precedence over the eternal, as far too many began to build on the sand of man’s ideology, man’s philosophy, man’s “wisdom”, instead of the rock that had been the foundation during the time of trial and temptation faced previously.

This cycle is not unfamiliar to our God.

It is the continuation of the same cries for help and mercy given over and over again… and the same tuning away with each reprieve given, the same denial as the pursuit of the power wished to be held by man increases in an attempt to control what is not his to control, ever shortening the time the cycle is allowed to continue.

The last stanza of this old hymn I referenced in the title refers to the time when that cycle will finally be broken, when understanding will truly exist with crystal clarity for each and every human being ever to have lived, or to be living at that time.

That stanza also reminds us of the promise that has been given through Christ Jesus’ birth, ministry, sacrificial death and resurrection for those who remain faithful, whose memory does not falter, who understand that the privation suffered by others remains of importance to Christ, that the suffering being endured for His sake will be rewarded, that we shall indeed see face to face, know and be known in all aspects by Him, and will in fact be accountable for all choices made in the onrush of NOW.

I opened with a precious scripture written by the apostle Paul that serves to remind us of the fallibility of man, and infallibility of God.

Prophecy has been given… By Christ Himself, that prophecy cannot and shall not fail.

We are not given specific dates to look for, and will not be.

We HAVE been given signs to look to, we have been given warning, we have been given promise.

I state regularly that the warning and the promise go hand in hand, two halves of the whole of the gospel.

The time has come to remind all once more of both, and proclaim that choice is available.

Today is the day to make that choice for those who are willing to acknowledge the certainty of the uncertainty of tomorrow.

John 3:16-21 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Before Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus, he reminded him of a need to be born again, and clarified the means to that need, as he did constantly throughout his ministry, requiring faith and belief, things attained only through the redemption given in return for repentance.

Nicodemus had difficulty understanding  what was being taught, as do a majority today as well.

Jesus summed it all up within the choice that had to be made contained in the quoted scripture.

The time to make that choice will not come “Farther Along”, that choice will have been made, and, no matter which choice is made, we are assured that we will know all about it, and understand the consequences of the choice made “by and by”

Romans 14:11

King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer