The Jokeless Joke

Diamond Ring (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I laugh a silent laugh

At a joke, no joke at all.

The promise of eternity,

Now present in my heart,

Is such a firmer ground to stand.

The trinkets of this present place,

All shiny, sparkly, inviting,

Ask me to come and play;

“Why vent your strength on Him?”

This is the joke, the beginning of words.

And the laugh is the end result.

How do you think, with all truth laid bare,

That you offer me something more?

Worthless ashes, yet to be,

Speak from there if you will.

Tempt me when the slightest breeze

Blows all that you have away.

If you can do this then will I listen.

And I make that promise to you.

For I know your fate; your pomp non-glistening.

And I know where I’ll be when you’re not.

Do Not Let Me Resort to Fear

In life here there are lies.  There is death, hunger, despair, hatred, false religion, false gods, hopelessness, twisted men who present themselves as if they are “good”.  And the list I could make of what is here would go on for many pages.  Who would read what they can touch with their own fingers?

Yet in this life there is a place of understanding that strips off all that filthy list.  There is a place where a man can know truth and live it.  I know that place!  I know that many will see me type those words and balk, “No man knows truth.”  I tell you I know Him!  And, more importantly, He knows me.

You want freedom from all that detestable list?  Do you want FREEDOM to LIVE?  Pry it from my heart.  Help me testify to what He is.  Ask me.  Press me.  Help me put into words what only the soul can understand with any clarity.

We have lips, graphics, gestures, and body language to communicate.  That’s the limit of our ability.  So how can I hope to tell you what is spoken in a place where these things are NOT the limit?  Take it from me.  Ask until you understand.

God has given the Gospel to men so that men can speak to one another.  It is a humble heart who will lower themselves enough to ask another man.  It is the proud who will restrain their questions before men.  The proud will think that no man can know the truth.  The humble will avail themselves to any possible source of life.  They will seek with all their might.  And if the testimony I give you falters, the meek will understand that I am like them.

We struggle to share what cannot be perceived.  But that inability to perceive it through our senses does not mean it is a lie.  Salvation in Jesus is absolutely real and transforming.  Consider this:  We are in the place of testing.  We are the ones who, for now, can’t see what eternity has seen all along.  We are the ones blind to His presence.  He is not blind to us.

Ask and I will tell you what He has told me.  And I am not the only one.  There are thousands of me.  Ask them.  Press them.  You know who they are.  Make them tell you.  And do not let them resort to fear.

“There is a Line.”

Susan Ashton sung the song, “There is a Line.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGbgZbzvGw  Such exquisite lyrics.  They have played in my mind all night.  The first few lines go like this:

It’s hard to tell just when the night becomes the day

That golden moment when the darkness rolls away

But there is a moment none the less.
In the regions of the heart there is a place

A sacred charter that should not be erased
It is the marrow; the moral core that I can not ignore.

I can’t define that moment in my life with absolute clarity.  But I do know, without the slightest doubt that it happened.  It is a micro moment in which one does not care about the things holy, then one cares.  I don’t think it was a choice I made.  I think the choice to obey His calling came afterward.

Now here’s the point:  Why isn’t this slender silver moment apparent in everyone’s life?  Why do we struggle so to describe it to those who have not had it?  If we all had it we could point to a common understanding.  But it isn’t there.  Why?