Living in the Context of Christ

The world can be a lonely place.

When I was a college student, I spent my share of late nights alone in my bedroom working on some project or paper that was due the next day. In the quiet of the early morning hours, the rest of the house, and seemingly the rest of the world, would be asleep leaving me to my task. I knew that there was no one that could help me, and in whatever few hours I had until the sun rose it was all up to me to make it happen. It’s at times like those that I’ve felt the most alone.

The world can be a scary place.

There were times when I was really unsure as to what was going to happen tomorrow. I had just graduated college with no prospects for a job, my girlfriend of four years had just left me for an older man, and I was about to embark on a cross country road trip with my best friend at the time, having never been more than a couple of hundred miles away from home. Coming from a childhood and home life of routine and certainty, it seemed a bit unnerving.

In those days I had barely developed any sense of perspective. My only context was of my earthly life and past experience, which was at best, average, and relatively limited. With that as my toolbox it was no wonder that I entered my adult life ill equipped for such formidable emotions like loneliness and fear of the unknown. Thank God, though, that would change. And although the journey has been long and slow, I was reminded last week just how far I’ve come in 40 years, by a verse from a song I heard in church:

On Christ, The Solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

In a world full of uncertainty, fear, sorrow, calamity, and evil, I often wonder how non-believers muster up the courage to get out of bed each morning. I pray for them that they will one day experience the joy of living a life within the context of Christ. That they too will come to know that they are loved beyond any ability for any of us to understand. I pray they see that our Creator’s relentless pursuit of each of His creations will one day win out and everything we once thought was so important or so scary will evaporate and a new and amazing life, an eternal life, will be theirs as it was meant to be. I pray that each and every soul out there would operate in the reality that Christ’s sacrifice was made on behalf of all, regardless of any doubt we may have as to our ‘worthiness’ or beliefs. Lastly, I pray we all start our day thankful in that knowledge and eager to see what awaits.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39