Sure footed

Sure footed.  2 Timothy 4.1

So high you can’t get over it,

so wide you can’t get around it,

so low you can’t get under it,

you must come through da door …¹

Oh, I wanted to get around it, I suppose, but I couldn’t.

No skating past the enormity of Paul’s words to Timothy:  “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season...” v.1-2

It is where Paul found himself, knowing that his time was running out, his death likely imminent, BUT his words have everything to do with you and me as well.  Read the words again, stopping to take in their meaning: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom…” Not only did these words form Paul’s guide rope, they were his underpinning, his position in life.  I submit to you that what is captured in this verse is our footing and guide as well. 

You see, as God followers, we live in the presence of God.  Can you forget David’s soulful expression, “Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.”² Interesting thing about our desire for God’s presence—oh, how we want to feel it near us and around us when we are in need--but are we desirous of it all the time? Hmmm, I don’t know.  I mean, we take him at his word that he will ‘neither leave us or forsake us’, but then are we not aware that means God is with us … we are with him … we live in the very presence of God!  That is indeed a powerful notion.

Paul wrote of Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead …   I grew up in a church tradition that did not shy away from the great Day of Judgment, but it is not often talked about now, is it?  I mean, after all, we live in a day and time, when we think passing judgment on anyone is wrong, wrong, wrong…right?  We also live in a time of live and let live, and your truth is your truth, but I have my own truth; yes, relative truth it is called--as compared with absolute truth.  But, whose truth is true?  It gives one pause, doesn’t it?

But, there will be a judgment day for all souls, of that I am sure.  Jesus Christ will be our Judge.  If we are his, we are saved from the judgment of our sins, because we have been forgiven as he paid our debt on the cross.  (Seems like such an easy statement but it cost my Jesus everything!)  So “Judgment” for those who are his will be an evaluation of our lives; Christians will be rewarded, though not punished, according to our deeds.³

Remember, Paul knew what was coming--he was soon to stand before God, and he was thinking about what that would be like.  The fact is, whenever death is knocking at our door, we do think about what is coming.  I’ve heard it,

‘All my life, I knew there was something more than this—but I was too busy earning a living, trying to get along in the world--still knew it would come some day. I really do believe there is an afterlife, probably a Heaven and from the people I’ve known, things I’ve witnessed, there sure as a world better be a Hell!’ 

Interesting that.  See even those who do not like the idea of Hell, believe that there must be some great equalizer … that evil people who have damaged and destroyed others’ lives will have to pay.  Even if we do not sit around contemplating that evil must be judged and avenged over a cup of Starbuck’s, it is a widely held conceptual notion that sits off the coast of our thinking.

So, as we think of our position, straddling this world and the next, we realize that our footing comes from knowing and living in the presence of God, with an understanding that this life is not all there is—at the entrance into the hereafter, there will a divine reconciling of the ledgers of our lives.  Most importantly: do we belong to Jesus, or not?  For it is in Christ alone we stand.

So, what say you--is your footing secure?  When you stand before Jesus—will he separate himself from you because you are unfamiliar?  And Christian, as he looks at your life and evaluates it, what will stand?  What will you have done or accomplished in this life that has born fruit, and will be recognized by God as having eternal value?  It is this that makes are footing sure.