Every Breath Is An Opportunity
The current reality of our lives is that they are finite. God has appointed death, the opposite of life, as the adequate punishment for sin entering the world through us. Each of us has a day upon which we will stop being able to make decisions and our wills will be eternally bound to one fate or another. God is in control of every beat of our hearts and breath that enters our lungs, and the gift of life comes with the inherent responsibility to fulfill its purpose. What happens when we neglect the purpose of the will God has granted us?
It can be terrifying to read God’s declaration to Belshazzar via the writing on the wall in Daniel 5. God was done allowing the Babylonian king to carry out his selfish and wicked will any longer. He was given a chance to learn from his forefather Nebuchadnezzar’s mistakes, humbling, and restoration, but with a stiff neck, Belshazzar rejected the opportunity to repent consistently throughout his life. God makes His justice known in this passage, but not at the expense of His offer of hope to us reading today.
“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.”
Micah 7:18
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:16-17
Jesus is the overflowing wellspring of hope that nourishes our souls’ true and good desires free of price. He is the glorious image of God that shows us who we were made to be, and although we were yet sinners, He died for us in our place to forgive our sins and eventually restore the full beauty of God’s creation in us. What happens when we simply believe this foundational and redemptive truth that upholds the universe?
Amidst the black-and-white answers of scripture, we live grey lives, tossed to and fro by the desires of our flesh and the demands of the world. The common grace of knowing the laws of good keeps most of us from committing the worst of atrocities, but our greed and selfish motivation infect most of the decisions we make, whether we are aware of it or not. Before we even realize what happened, we can wake up to find our consciences have become eroded and seared decision by decision or decade by decade.
I’ve been through cycles of walking my own way and then being graciously returned to the path that God wants me to walk in. I’ve struggled against storms of thoughts that plague my mind as I watch my will struggle to execute this life the way my Lord wills. I know I’m not alone in this, though I’m tempted to foolishly believe so at times. I know that we’ve all shared in some degree of this existential plight, whether our personality is geared towards it or not.
Through these trials of our souls' groaning, I believe that God is testing our faith in a crucible. It is a supernatural gift from Him that we must partner in by faith. Jesus’ warnings against lukewarmness were given for a very good reason: a foot in the world is enmity with God, and across any amount of time, the pride that says, “I can get away with my own way,” is deadly. It led to Belshazzar’s swift end, Judas Iscariot’s deceptive years of following Christ faithlessly unto betrayal, and many more souls falling to the god of this world.
Let the writing on the wall be a wake-up call not of condemnation, but one filled with hope for the future Christ has promised His children.
As long as there is breath in our lungs for another minute, God is providing it, and His grace offers us an opportunity to glorify Him no matter what we’ve done. Instead of sorrowfully tarrying another minute over whether we’ve repented well enough or worked hard enough for His sake, we can simply believe what He says and live for Him forever, for He made peace with us through the blood of His Son.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8
Though we fail to execute such a high calling with the perfection required to enter heaven, Jesus is our substitutionary atonement, advocate, great high priest, Lord, and God. Trust in that today and every day, brethren, and go, live the life He has called you to. Even when you feel hopeless, seek out His help and truth to calm the storms of your mind. I preach such things to myself, for I need Him greatly.
Scripture teaches that He hears our cries and has promised everlasting life beyond the bounds of this finite sin-ridden existence we now found ourselves in for those that take up their cross of faith. It is a burden much lighter than the burden of sin, and we must trust that He will teach us to walk in His ways unchained by the evils of our past. He will guide us all the way to glory, and every battle against the spiritual forces of this world will have proved worth every tear.
~ Alex Nicholson serves as Music Director and Social Media Coordinator at LIFE Fellowship.