This Life is STILL worth living.
Last night I was binge watching TDK clips, and one scene jumped out in particular – that one where Bane’s henchmen were dragging a beaten Bruce Wayne into a prison cell.
When (legend) Christian Bale as Batman regained consciousness, he sees Tom Hardy (also legend) as Bane looking down on him, breathing like Darth Vader, and telling him he’s… home.
Or, rather, Batman is now where Bane used to call home. Christopher Nolan’s version of the (canon) Peña Duro prison on the Caribbean island of Santa Prisca – a prison in the bottom of a deep pit.
Bane says that this particular prison was special in that it specialized more on mental than physical torture. It was designed to break souls AND spines.
He explains that the pit is designed in such a way that the prisoners see the sky every day, and thus they see a way out, every day. But every time someone tries to climb out, they fall, and they almost always die.
So to know that you have a very slim, infinitesimal chance of surviving, much less making it out – that’s painful enough; Seeing the sky exponentially increases that torture.
Hope is the pain that is pronounced as the knife drags out slowly, after it’s pierced suddenly, deeply into the flesh.
Or, at least, that’s what false hope is.
But again, I say, this life is STILL worth living.
I say this with all the conviction I have left inside of me, what with problems without immediate solutions, circumstances which are certainly detrimental to a point, sudden calamities and slow, dragging yet painful situations all stacking up – This life is STILL worth living because we have a hope that is true. In Christ, we have a Hope that serves as a true Anchor for our souls – That, as my wonderful mother always says, all with be well with our souls;
That’s right. We have a hope that keeps us together, that keeps us from swaying to and fro; We have a hope that keeps us standing instead of swaying and swishing back and forth.
The same hope that was alive in Horatio Spafford, who right after hearing news of his daughters dying in a shipwreck, composed the song, ‘It Is Well With My Soul’ – that’s the same hope that’s alive in my household, especially after we’ve been hit with sudden calamity, and a dose of reality.
The hope that we have proves greater than the overbearing, inevitable weight of this reality. It keeps us going, hopeful for better days tomorrow… Because sure as Christ is with us now, so Christ is with us the next day, unto the end of days, and into forever.
Christ is our Strength for today, and our bright Hope for tomorrow;
‘Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!‘
This painful, seemingly hopeless life is STILL worth living.
Or, let me rephrase that – Life is absolutely worth living, in this wretched, painful existence.
It’s certainly not a cushy, comfortable Life that we have – but I’ll say, it’s a Life of repose while the rest of the world insists on restlessness; It’s a Life of peace present in unbearable pain, and situations with no solutions…
…and it’s all based, founded on something that Jesus Christ did for all, once and for all – He paid the dues for our sin, that we who were once separated from God are now reconciled with Him, so much that we are able to call Him our Father, so close that He is alive in us, as we are alive in His presence. Yes, even in this reality bound by time and space, even in this reality doomed to inevitable oblivion.
I dare say that it is from this hope, and from this peace that we are able to move – that is, we’re able to move for as long as is required of us, and we’re able to bring everything out, keeping the course.
I believe it is hope and peace that served as the foundation of some of Paul’s final words; It was hope in tomorrow, peace for yesterday, and joy in the present that was overflowing in him when he wrote that he fought the good fight, he finished the race, and he kept the faith.
This life we have, as believers (saved by grace, through Christ and His finished work) is especially worth living because we don’t just endure, but we thrive.
We thrive, not for us to be comfortable, but more for those who we can reach to see the same joy, hope, and peace that we have – that more and more people would come to the knowledge of His saving grace.
In short, all we do is for others; As Christ came for us, as Christ lay His body down and shed His blood for us, as Christ rose again and ascended into the heavens for us – So we remain in this existence, living life amidst all the toil, enduring the pain, yet thriving through the fires; All for His will do be done: That no man would perish, but all would come to repentance unto salvation.
It truly is all for the unity of the body of Christ, for the expansion of His Kingdom, and for the utmost glory of His name.
Let us continue to abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Let us continue to dwell in the secret place of the Most High.
Let us continue to delight in Him, let us continue to rest in Him.
Let us continue to commit our ways to Him, trusting in Him, waiting on Him.
We do this certainly by meditating on His Word.
We will not avenge ourselves; We shall trust in the Lord, who promised that vengeance is His, and He will repay.
We shall only look, and see the punishment of the wicked. We will not fear the terror that flies by night, nor shall we fear the arrow that flies by day.
We dwell with Him, abide in Him, and He protects us; When the enemy has the upper hand, He avenges us.
We meditate on His Word, and appreciate His presence above all else.
When I find myself yearning for presence and intimacy, I thank God, because He is with me.
I thank God, for whom I have been given charge over; I thank God, for He has given me wisdom and strength to feed them, and tend to them.
When thoughts of the past and the old that has passed away attempt to tear me down… that’s when I remember that, according to His Word, He surrounds me with songs of deliverance and salvation.
When memories of mistakes, realization of consequences and/or fear of future reprisal come to mind, that’s when I remember that the conviction I have is from the Holy Spirit;
He reminds me of the reality I am now walking in – that is, in righteousness unto eternal life, but more importantly, righteousness founded by the blood of Christ, which proclaims that nothing can ever separate me from the love of my God and Father.
We meditate on His Word, and His perfect, everlasting, true love casts out all our fear.
We meditate on His Word, and speak the Word with authority, for the well-being and eventual salvation of others, and for our peace of mind.
We meditate on His Word, and cling to His promises, trusting Him all the more, considering that He moves what He alone is able to move – the hearts and minds of others; that, again, all may come to the knowledge of His saving grace, and be saved themselves.
And as we wait on the Lord, we live, move, and have our being in Him; constantly being moved, constantly growing, constantly being exposed to light and sustenance, and even pruned if necessary – all because of a Heart that desires that we bear much more fruit.
In hopelessness, we speak salvation.
In tension, we move – from a position of rest, from a powerful peace.
Thank You, Father, for the peace.
This life is truly worth living.
May our Father continue to bless and keep us all.
Amen. Amen.
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