Ruth leaves behind a large number of people mourning her passing, as she brought great light into the lives of those around her and yet we celebrate her reunion with the Lord, whom she faithfully served her whole life. My last several days of bible study have been preparing me for dealing withe the passing of another beloved daughter of Christ, having spent much of my time studying Hebrews 11 and 12, the Psalms and 1 Corinthians 13.
There is a hymn "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" which reads:
O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free!
There’s a light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—For more than conquerors we are!
Over us sin no more hath dominion—For more than conquerors we are!
The words were inspired by Hebrews 12:1-3, where after spending all of chapter 11 reading about great faith in those saints who have gone before us, we are called to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, so we do not grow weary and lose heart. But this song also hearkens to another amazing promise of scripture found in 1 Corinthians 13:12. "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known."
Add this to Psalm 12:5-7 "Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord. The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined 7 times. You O Lord will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever."
We are all one day closer to our own passing, whether we have a serious illness that calls that reality to the forefront of our minds, or we live each day in denial of the truth that God alone knows the number of days ordained for our life. We will get every day He intends for us to have, but not a minute more. And when this death comes, for those who call Jesus Christ their Savior and Lord, the true life begins. No longer tied to a dying shell, decaying day by day. No longer surrounded inside and out by the sins of a fallen world. No longer looking dimly towards glory, getting small glances of the Lord we worship.
No - the new life, life eternal, is one that we will know God, seeing Him face to face, living in the light of His glory. This life of affliction and the weight of the needy is not outside of God's redeeming grace.
I spent some time reflecting last night on the woman RuthAnn was, during her time here on earth. She was such a picture of the light of God's love living through His faithful servant. Her joy (which was never dampened by the deadly disease swimming through her blood) radiated through her in a way which truly gave her a glowing personality. That expression is often used on vivacious, extroverted people. Yet RuthAnn had a quiet radiance, where you felt heard, loved and accepted. You wanted to be near her, because of the warmth that radiated from her. A warm smile. A genuine laugh and love of life. An attitude of graciousness and thanksgiving for each moment God had given her - seeing her daughter, and granddaughter and great-grandson continue in the faith.
What does a true life of faith look like? It looks like a woman whose reality should have been crushing and despairing - spending years asking why me or complaining about the constant illness and pain. But a life of faith is so centered on Christ, that the shadow of sin and death had no place in her. This life does not come from her own strength. Leukemia weakens the body daily, until there is no longer strength to live. But RuthAnn's strength came from our eternal Savior. He has already conquered sin and death and hell. Her "battle" against cancer was won before it began - because her heart was already held in the hands of the One that had saved her.
That passage in 1 Cor 13:12 which reads "now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just I have been fully known", I believe refers to two types of knowledge. Obviously, we will know Jesus in a whole new way. 1 John 3:2 says "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." Both of these passages speak to a fascinating truth. Not only will we know the Lord better, as we see Him face to face, but we will know ourselves better too. We will see what we were meant to be.
Psalm 139:16 says "Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them."
God created us, He ordained our days, our purpose and His design was to recreate us in His image - not just as we are here on earth, but remade like Him. We don't know our true potential. We don't know all God made us to be. We live seeing things in hindsight, perpetually amazed by what God has done in and through us. We are all like King David, saying "Who am I God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?" (2 Sam 7:18) But we can only see ourselves in this life, with the baggage from our past, our daily failures and shortcomings and our worlds surrounded by sin and death. We daily decay. Yet God doesn't see us this way. God sees the beloved son and daughter whom He is calling home, to eternally live in the light of His glory and grace. As we turn our eyes towards Jesus, we leave behind those encumbrances of this life and see glimpses of the potential that comes from living with the Holy Spirit, making us new day by day. Our mortal shell gets closer to death and yet simultaneously an eternal life is ever approaching.
RuthAnn now knows her Jesus in a way she never knew before. And she now sees herself, free from cancer, free from sin, free from death and into life. O glorious day!
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