A Lifelong Relationship

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4

Having just celebrated my sixty-first birthday I cannot help but consider all my years on this earth. Each of us is a book known only to God Himself. The good, the bad, the joy and suffering we have each lived through with endless experiences accumulated make up who we are and fill in the pages of our story.

Much of my own life revolves around ideas formed not only at a young age, but over years of experiences of struggling to live a Christian life. Seeking to manifest outwardly a relationship that came about as a young teen who bowed his knee to the Lordship of Christ. Coming to live the Christian life is a progression of many trials and failures as it is with all Believers for we are never perfected this side of heaven. But we grow at varying rates as we increase in the knowledge of our Lord and learn to follow His will for our lives.

When I think back upon my life about how many times things could have gone horribly wrong, and yet didn’t because of God’s help and intervention, it is humbling to realize how easily my life could have become a train wreck. The outstanding difference in the life of every Christian who has any degree of success is the Lord’s direction and intervention.

This makes me consider those who reject Christ, or simply never have had the chance to get to know their Maker and receive His help in their lives. I don’t want to imagine what my life would have been like without Jesus. It was not always easy even with the Lord’s help, but would have been impossible without Him. Many of you could say the same.

Through affliction, loss, days of pain and suffering, God has been there for me. In my victories, when standing and rejoicing upon the mountain tops, Jesus has been with me. His love and compassion has sustained me through much suffering and affliction, often giving me wisdom and insight to help me through the storms of life. His favor has been evident when “circumstances” all just happen to go my way. The fingerprints of God are all over me because I opened my heart as a kid who understood that God is good and I needed Him in my life.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Life is short. It flies by faster the older you get. You look at the clock of your life and it is racing by so quickly that you are stunned when you consider how little time you may have left. We have regrets for things we should have done better, or should have left undone. We wish we could do many things over again. But what I’ll never regret is that I felt the Holy Spirit tug my heart strings at church that day and the Creator of everything took pity upon me and saved my soul. It changed everything for the better.

I hope each person reading this is a Christian. But if you are not, now is the time to open your heart to Jesus and enter into a relationship that will not only change your life for the better, but give you an eternity that is priceless. I cannot promise all your difficulties will end, but I can promise you will never go through them alone. You will find peace, strength, and joy that puts hope at the center of your life. No matter how dark or dreary your life may be, there is a better day that comes when Jesus is your Lord. The clock is ticking, and no one will escape our destiny with the death of this body. But the true you who lives inside will never perish. Not if you simply ask Jesus to become the Lord of Your destiny.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the priceless Gift of Yourself. For your love, kindness, mercy and grace that takes a broken human and gives meaning and hope and eternal life through Your sacrifice upon a Cross. Our sins cost You everything. But incredibly, You freely give us life and salvation. We praise You for it Jesus! Amen.