Getting Out of Here

I once had a dear friend named Ruth, who in her late 80’s sat enjoying a grilled steak one day, when she heard a radio announcer declare that barbecued meat wasn’t good for you. She stopped her beef-laden fork midway between her plate and her lips, paused for a moment in reflection, then shrugged her shoulders and said, “Oh well, I’ve got to get out of here somehow,” and popped the meat into her mouth and chewed with obvious delight.

Ruth has long-since “gotten out of here” and gone home to the Father she so dearly loved, but today—which just happens to be my 61st birthday—I’m thinking of her as I consider the approach of my own home-going. I’m also thinking of the late, great preacher, Pastor E. V. Hill, who was famous for reminding us, “This ain’t it!” And I wonder, do we really believe that…or are we futilely clinging to a temporal life here in the “shadowlands” as if we could somehow prolong it and enjoy it forever?

I, for one, have no desire to remain here one day longer than God has purposed for me, and I say that with all honesty and conviction. I love what I do. I love my family and my friends. I love so much about this lost-in-sin earth and its tainted and fallible residents. But I love God more, and with each passing year, the yearning and anticipation within me grows. SOON. Soon I will go home. Soon I will be reunited with loved ones who have gone before me. Soon I will live in a perfect place, in a perfect environment, in perfect health. Soon…I will see Jesus and bask in the presence of my heavenly Father.

What do I want for my birthday? To see others experience that same anticipation and yearning to “get out of here” and graduate to heaven. For however many years God grants me to remain in this imperfect life, I pray He will also strengthen my conviction to convey that yearning and anticipation to everyone I meet, whether through writing or speaking…or just living in a way that causes them to want to follow me home.

We all have birthdays. We all get older and “wear out” physically. All the facelifts and exercise programs in the world can’t stop it. But we don’t have to fear death, for it is, after all, a passing from the shadowlands into the joy of living forever in the glorious presence of God. Oh, that we would lay hold of that great truth and live accordingly! Then, as we make that transition into eternity, we will be able to declare with certainty, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Keep the faith, beloved—and pass it on to everyone you meet along the way.

PRAYER: Father, help me to be waiting in expectation of eternity with You. In the waiting, help me to be honoring You by fighting the good fight and finishing this race You have set before me. Amen.
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,” 2 Timothy 4:6-7 KJV.

Today’s devotion is by Kathi Macias, award-winning author of nearly 30 books, including Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today. She penned the best-selling devotional A Moment a Day and assisted with Zondervan’s New Women’s Devotional Bible. A mother and grandmother, Kathi and her husband, Al, call California home.