Their inward thought [is, that] their houses [shall continue] for ever, [and] their dwelling places to all generations; they call [their] lands after their own names. Nevertheless man [being] in honor abides not: he is like the beasts [that] perish. This their way [is] their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. -- Psalms 49:11-13
Our research on Uruguay started almost two years ago. We had been looking to move to a new country, we just had no idea where. My business allows me to work from anywhere that broadband Internet is available. We considered the Canadian Bush, the Australian Outback, the Tasmanian island, New Zealand, and various countries in Central and South America. But we felt most at home with the people and culture of Uruguay.
Questions Previously Unasked
When the actual process of moving started in late February of 2010, there were still many mundane things to consider. How do we maintain an address? How do we keep a local phone? And so on. But surprisingly, there were many thought-provoking moments where we were challenged in our faith and world-view. The first was about "leaving home", not only in the sense of leaving the country of our birth, but leaving our house, vehicles and other property.
What is Stability?
We all tend to think of those things around us as permanent and stable. Our parents and friends may live just down the road. The car starts up every morning. We've been living in this house for so many years. Though we know better, these things engender a feeling of permanence. Our lives seem stable because our circumstances don't often change in big ways over short periods of time.
Yet death can steal our loved ones, that car battery can expire, and natural disaster can claim our belongings. Life can change in a heartbeat, in just a few moments, the proverbial twinkling of the eye.
Our own lives are "vapor". We have no assurance of continuance of wealth, good health, or prosperity.
Go to now, you that say, "To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain": Whereas you know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. -- James 4:13,14
Only God is Permanent
The fact is, there is no true permanence or stability in life. It is merely an illusion. Only God is unchanging and the good things we enjoy in life come from Him:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. -- James 1:17
Our own mortality and the temporary nature of life is something to be considered from time to time (Ecclesiastes 7:2). The reality of the human condition is to be ever vulnerable to upset and uncertainty.
In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. -- Ecclesiastes 7:14
For man also knows not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so [are] the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them. -- Ecclesiastes 9:12
Yet we have only to do those things which we know to do. As Elizabeth Elliot says, "do the next thing".
In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both [shall be] alike good. -- Ecclesiastes 11:6
Learning to Live with "Infirmity"
Leaving what we've always known made us truly feel the infirmity of our limited understanding. It made us more dependent upon the Lord and less dependent upon ourselves and those things we have thus far trusted in for so long. It made it possible to glory in our own weaknesses, and let the power of Christ rest upon us (2 Corinthians 12:9).
For Those that Don't Believe
Whether or not you believe in a Creator, all people must own to the fact that life is temporary in nature. If the thought of death is uncomfortable for you and you feel the weight of sin and weakness, then I would encourage you to pick up the Bible and see what's inside. Start with Romans!
Want to Read More On This Topic?
I would suggest starting with Psalm 49.
No comments:
Post a Comment