01 THE BORDER LAND
THE BORDER LAND
"The time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day!" 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Aged Christian, your day is far spent, your journey is nearly ended! The greatest part of the wilderness is behind you! You have traveled many a weary mile, and have spent many a sorrowful day. But you have not much farther to go! You have not many more days to spend here in this bleak desert. You are just on the edge of the wilderness, on the borders of the promised land! Soon, very soon, your Lord will send his messenger, ’death’, to call you home. The year of release is just at hand. Do not, therefore, give way to fear. Do not hang down your head like a bulrush—but look up, for your redemption draws near! Let us talk together a little of the past, the present, and the future; and let us try and comfort one another with God’s own precious words.
We have not much time left—let us not waste it! We have not far to go—let us not loiter! We are in the border country—let us expect some glimpses of "The Better Land." We are hastening from danger and a country that is doomed; let us not look back! Every step now brings us sensibly nearer home! Every hour counts, and the last hour will soon be here!
Let us attend to the Apostle’s admonition, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away" I would like you to be free from concern." 1 Corinthians 7:29-32
Anxiety about temporal things does not befit us now. The world is to us like an inn, where we lodge tonight—but shall leave it tomorrow.
"The world passes away; but he who does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:17.