In
the famous monologue from the play “HAMLET” by William Shakespeare the
character contemplates dying versus ending the struggle and entering the afterlife. But he struggles with the choice of life,
with its known weariness, or the afterlife we have no knowledge of and may have
its own troubles. Here is a snapshot of
his thoughts:
To
be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind
to
suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
and by opposing - end them.
To
die, to sleep--No more--and by a sleep to say
we
end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to.
that flesh is heir to.
But
that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns,
Puzzles
the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Hamlet’s struggle is not unlike our struggle with the
choice to be Christian or Not. It is the choice
of life or death. But unlike Hamlet, we have the knowledge of the afterlife.
Hamlet’s Choice:
Life full of troubles or death unsure of the what it holds.
 |
| THE CHOICE |
Our Choice: We
can live unsaved in the sea of troubles and then go to death in Hell forever or
live now with freedom in Christ and live eternally in a place of certainty.
Poor Hamlet didn’t realize that he could know
what death holds. Death is the result of
sin. Victory over death is the result of living for Christ. Just like the
difference between someone who is alive or dead is noticeable,
“To be or not to
be” a Christian is also distinguishable.
When we accept Jesus into our lives as our
Lord and Savior we change. Let me rephrase that… We ARE Changed! In that moment God removes our sinful nature
and implants His Spirit and His Heart. We are no longer the same, we are born
again. We are told in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
This verse confirms that
God does His work when we make the choice.
The new comes. It does not read “eventually
we will become something that God will accept and consider us for entry into
heaven”. No, that question is off the table -
we just are. However, many of us Christians are still living in Hamlet’s
Hopelessness instead of Jesus’ Truth? When
we decide to follow Christ, we die in that moment. It is no longer we who live, but Christ in
us.
“For Christ also
suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…” 1 Peter 3:18-22 ESV
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and
after that comes judgment.” Romans 5:8 ESV
In many churches you see this sign on the baby room wall. It is the
inspiration for today’s blog. Hamlet related death to sleep as does Paul when
he wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth. The verse reads: “If
there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body… I declare to you,
brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet…. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and
the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
As I considered the blog this week I saw these two crosses on the same
church. Now, it’s not unusual for me to stop and take pictures of crosses, as
it is one of my favorite things to photograph. But this time God chimed in with
His point of view. “Cindy, do you see how one of the crosses seems to be a part
of the wall and one seems to sit on top of the wall?”. Some people are like
that. They “put on” Christ instead of
being one with him.” He said sadly….
Wow! Is
He right? Well, of course He’s right…
but what do we do with this information? First, we have to ask ourselves, “Do I
‘put on’ instead of ‘being’?” Second, if
we “put on”, how do we change that? Paul
has the answer in his letter to the Romans chapter 6:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin
that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in
it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we
have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united
with him in a resurrection like his. Do you not know that if you present
yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you
obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to
righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have
become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were
committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of
righteousness.”
Again,
looks like God has done all of the work and given us newness of life as well as
given us a heart of obedience so we can BE a slave to righteousness instead of dying
daily to sin.
Too
good to be true? Irrational? You’re not worthy to receive such a free pass? You’re right.
But God still loves us and doesn’t care what you think about His
plan. It’s His choice. Like we could make ourselves, under our own
power, good enough to enter His holy presence.…
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV
Even though God used the words “put on” in a negative tone when He
spoke to me, the Bible is full of verses about “putting on”. These are not related to a disguise as God
was, but clothing or covering our behavior with godly traits. We are also instructed
to “put on the full armor of God”. This
is a suit meant for battle and protection.
This is not meant to be a trade for our inner being or something laid on
top of something else to hide what’s underneath. God wants us to be filled with
Christ.
This
kind of living is like the difference between wearing a costume pretending to
BE something and actually BEing it on a daily basis. Would we, as some sort of
act of humility, drag around our dead self? Would we, as an attempt to prove to
others how holy we are, put on a mask of Jesus? Talk about ridiculous!! This was never what was intended for us;
before sin first appeared in the garden or when Jesus was sent to save us. God is
the one who raises us up so we can just BE. “To be” free in life and “To be” free
from death. Jesus is clear on this matter (John 11:44) :
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a
cloth around his face. Jesus said to them,
"Take
off the grave clothes and let him go."
So, let’s take off our
Hamlet costume or masks of perfection and get on with BEing His.
Closing Encouragement
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones holy and
beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above
all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And
let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in
one body.
And be
thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing
one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Colossians 3:12-17
Click here to see a song
about BEing changed.
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