Read Psalm 90:13-17. 13Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
The psalm ends in joyful reversal. From God calling us to return to dust, to God returning to us in mercy. From all our days being full of wrath to all our days being full of rejoicing. From our fading like grass to the establishment of all our works.
In Christ, the great reversal has already begun in us, God’s new creation, in the “already but not yet.”
Yes, life is short, but now, in Christ, it is also eternal.
Yes, life is full of sorrow, but now, in Christ, it is also full of joy.
Yes, we live within great limitation, but now, in Christ, there is also unlimited satisfaction.
Yes, this world is fading away, but now, in Christ, we can leave a spiritual legacy of faith in God’s power for our children (biological and spiritual).
Yes, all will fade away, but now, in Christ, the work of our hands, every deed done by faith in Christ’s finished work, will last forever.
To live is Christ is to live within this great reversal, where everything in this life is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory as we, even now, are transformed from glory to glory until Christ appears.
You: Can you see the “already but not yet” of life in Christ?
Christ in you: How does our future in Christ give life meaning in the here and now?
You in Christ: What good work will you be doing today from Christ’s strength?
Pray: Father, keep me from seeing only the futility and meaninglessness of this life and missing the glory that union with your Son’s life and death has brought to my life, my eternal life. Amen.
To Live is Christ 