Sunday 8 February 2009

W a r Z o n e

“Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.”

The Duke of Wellington.


The daily grind - facing the weather, the stress, the ups and downs....all that life tends to throw at us, whether we're ready for it or not. It can be hell, but then, what else would you expect on the front line?

It's pretty amazing, when you consider the amount of sheer misery and grief many of us encounter that we miss that - life doesn't make much sense otherwise. This planet and our race have been at the very heart of a conflict which literally is about the true nature and identity of existence itself, yet most days the 'gray' of our current condition keeps us looking at the pain and chaos like spectators at some diabolical and twisted version of the Roman games - something we're almost content to observe until we discover we're next into the arena!

It's those 'you're next' moments that quickly shock us to our senses. Just look how close we all are to that precipice of death - the pain-numbing mantras of atheism don't seem anywhere near as good when that reality bites: life is pointless, and the universe is just a fluke - what a comfort when you're facing such a moment!

The only place we gain true insight into this war is at the Cross.
Jesus Christ takes all the darkness - the pain and misery of our fallen lives, our scorched world,
and quenches it in His death and resurrection. He lays down His life to terminate the hostilities, to open the way back to a world where His scars, His emptying of Himself, insures that ours will be gone.

Life is pretty bleak here sometimes, but just like the moment when the allies arrived on d-day, the entire nature of this war has changed - the victory is certain, whatever comes now.

Thanks be to God, who has given us this great victory through His Son, Jesus Christ.

1 comment:

Steve said...

Our lives are a "war zone' aren't they?

Not only do we have the world around us, which does not care one wit for us, but then we have the added torment that the 'man of the old aeon' provides. He is actively working against what the Creator had in mind for us.
Lastly, there is the one who was defeated at the cross yet still battles on in an effort to devour as many of God's children as he can.

Thank you, Howard, for reminding us of the One who stormed the beaches on our behalf and defeated those forces marshalled against us.

Jesus Christ is the Victor! And he has made us victorious as well!