There's No Comparison

June 29

There’s an old saying that’s rather depressing. It certainly doesn’t conjure up much reason for exercising hope or optimism when contemplating the future. It says, “The only things that are certain are death and taxes.” Apart from the hope, joy, peace and love that we receive through the salvation found in Jesus, that is a concise expectation of life—in the proverbial nut shell.

A poem written decades ago, titled, “Undaunted,” says:

“In despair man must cry, ‘Where is the end, when will it come; can it go on and never bend? How, Life, so cruelly wasteth thou away in misery and tears—Known? Too fully known. The chaff the wind driveth away is like unto thy promises. Ah, Life, they are broken all, except that death must conquer.

“With aspiration high, man rises, only to farther fall when Fancy strikes thee, Life, to pull thy prank again! Yet, if thou cruel must be and never bend; if thou thy hand hast set against the day when man shall know his dream, fulfill his hope, still, Life, thou’lt find him brave, undaunted to the end.”

The sentiments herein expressed may be repeated again and again in the experience of men who have not attained the knowledge of the help and hope that are to be found in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ and laying life at His feet. When one has that transformative experience, he may say with the psalmist, “O, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever,” I Chronicles 16:34.

Life’s trials pale in comparison to God’s promise of life eternal. Death has no sting (see I Corinthians 15:52-58) when viewed from the vantage point of Christ’s great sacrifice which achieved Heaven for all who believe. Giving thanks becomes the portion of the individual who has “tasted the goodness of the Lord and seen that He is good,” Psalm 34:8.