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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman It Has Come Down To This
As I sat on a lawn chair in our
basement I scanned some of what we have accumulated.
There was my bicycle, with flat tires and dislodged chain.
My wife's eyes used to replace my legally blind eyes when I
followed her on our bike rides, that is, until one day I didn't follow
her. Within seconds after
racing off without her I flew down to the parking lot with a bloody nose
and broken teeth. Yes, I was
wearing a helmet. Yes, I did
see that truck. No, I did not
see the aluminum ladder sticking out of its tailgate that bloodied my
face. Now, at my age, bike
riding seems a bit too dangerous. So,
as I beheld my broken-down bike I realized that it has come down to this.
What I once could do, I no longer can do.
I recall Glenn Shaver,
my grade eleven physics teacher in 1968/69, my mentor in the Lord during
the 1970's, and the head of my high school's science department.
There he was, now ninety-two years old, falling asleep in a chair
as we talked. The totality of
his world was now his nursing-home room.
A small world it was. A
productive and eventful life had come down to this.
Life starts in a state
of helplessness and it ends in a similar state of helplessness, but I am
not depressed. Being the
realist that I am, I accept our human aging reality, that I might add, does
not nullify my trust in Jesus. As
I pondered selling my bicycle, I did sense a good measure of contentment.
Jesus has meant so much to me throughout my life.
As usual, considering a life of contentment always reminds me of
Philippians 4:12. "I know what it is
to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I
have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
plenty or in want." Note that Paul viewed
contentment as a secret to be learned because it's not a natural human
character trait. We would
rather complain than be content. The verb "I have
learned" in the above verse clues us in to how Paul could be content
when he suffered so much in life (2 Corinthians 11: 23 - 28). "I
have learned" is a perfect, passive, indicative Greek verb.
Perfect means Paul's learning to be content was completed.
Passive means that contentment was provided for him by an outside
source, who I believe was Jesus. Indicative
means his contentment was an indisputable visible fact of his life.
For Paul, finding contentment, no matter how long it took, came
about by a divine act of God.
Divine contentment is
important as we age. To the
degree we can learn this secret will be the degree to which we will age
with grace-filled contentment. We
will avoid frustration that destroys the productivity of a still-valuable
life. As with Paul, this
divine act of God is possible in our lives, but only if He is priority number one.
I realize that it is
easier to write this article than to live it, but still, my desire for the
rest of my life, whether it's two or twenty years, is to live the secret
of contentment. I believe I'm
on the right track, and if I succeed, it will help me to be spiritually
productive and free from unsettling frustration.
Maybe I can be like my friend Glenn, who, as he held my hand while
were talking, seemed quite content as he fell asleep in my presence.
Yes, it has come down to this.
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