Keeping the End in Mind
Have you ever started a project without having a clear or clear-ish picture of the end in mind?
Danielle and I love old homes, and we love doing projects in those old homes. One of the most important lessons that we’ve learned over the years is that we need to keep the end in mind when we’re doing a project, otherwise chaos, frustration, and a less-than-desirable conclusion is usually what ensues. This doesn’t mean that the plan doesn’t change or get tweaked along the way; we are talking about old homes here! Instead, when we keep the end in mind, even though a tweak is made here or there, the vision for the project stays in alignment and comes to fruition. Can you imagine trying to build a home, a vehicle, or a skyscraper without keeping the end product in mind? The project would be completely impossible!
There is a truth here for us as Christians as well. In the big story of the Bible, it invites us to keep the end in mind. See, the Bible begins with the account of creation, and in this account, it both teaches us about God’s nature and our condition as humans. We learn that God is good, powerful, and loving. We also learn that while humanity was created in the image of God, we rebelled against him and chose our glory over his. This act of cosmic insurrection welcomed death, disease, and destruction into God’s good creation. If this is where the story ends, it would be truly tragic in the most comprehensive sense of the word. However, to our good news and from God’s glorious grace, the story doesn’t end there. Instead, the Bible goes on to unpack and reveal the full reality of the human condition and God’s pursuit of his creation who rejected him. We learn how, over millennia, God made covenant with humanity and drew us into relationship with himself, culminating in the sending of his Son, Jesus so that eternal life might be realized and experienced by all who put their faith in Christ. Then comes the end, the complete and total redemption of all believers, the earth, and the entire cosmos. Here is how the Apostle John in Revelation 21:1-5 describes this glorious reality.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Take a minute and savor that declaration. No tears, no pain, no death, and all things being made new. Seriously, take a few minutes to allow the Holy Spirit to help you just savor the beauty, hope, and excitement of this promised end. Truly amazing, isn’t it?
Now here’s the thing: while we wait for this promised conclusion to come to fruition, we are to keep it in mind each and every day of our lives. Everything that God has done in the past, is doing now in the present, and will do in the future, is leading to that glorious end! In other words, God has this glorious end in mind at all times. We even see it in his response to the original sin of Adam and Eve. In Gen. 3:15, God promises to send one who will crush the tempter (Satan). Theologians refer to this verse as the “protoevangelium.” That is just a big word that means the first promise of salvation and redemption. We are not just living random lives that will one day end, and then some amorphous or hazy eternity will begin. We are living as the redeemed children of God now, experiencing in part what is to come in full (1 Cor. 13:12). And, just as God keeps the end in mind and works in that direction, we too are to keep the end in mind and allow it to inform our everyday lives.
This summer, our country is celebrating its 250th birthday, which is remarkable! So, how do you and I as Christians process this moment? We keep the end in mind. We remember that while we live in the here and now, we are ultimately destined for a better country (Heb. 11:16; Rev. 21:4). This doesn’t mean we live disconnected from or apathetic to our present reality. It means that we understand our lives are part of a much bigger and more glorious story. Not just one of an earthly reality, but a heavenly one. This reframes our expectations of earthly institutions, causes us to have compassion on our neighbors, and humility to lovingly engage with those who see the world differently so that more and more may participate in the same bigger and more glorious story of redemption.
Brother and sister, believer and saint, let us prayerfully keep the end in mind as we go about our daily lives, and we might just be delightfully surprised at how the Holy Spirit changes our reactions, responses, expectations, and encounters. You live in this world, but you have been redeemed for a better one (1 Pet. 2:9-10).
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”