And when it comes down to this …

Marie’s face brightened when she saw me come into her room. Age has taken her mental abilities. She does not know my name, but she remembers I am ‘the church man.’   A normal conversation is all but impossible.  She does not know the day of the week or what’s going on in the world around her. I opened my Bible and asked if I could read a passage to her.  “Oh, yes,” she said with enthusiasm. As I read the familiar words of the 37^th Psalm, she murmured in agreement, in obvious joy at God’s Word.  This woman who centered her life on the Lord and on serving His people still knows His Spirit and His Name!  When we prayed together, she calmed and it was clear that she continues to commune with the Lord.

This elderly saint has made God her refuge. She lives this:  "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:24-26, NIV)

Make the Lord your portion. What does that mean?  The Hebrew word in the Psalm means “reward, inheritance, or share of land.”  Another way to say it, “The Lord is my treasure.”  So many other things offer themselves as our portion, don’t they?   Wealth offers to secure us. So do our possessions. We may attempt to anchor our life to our children, our position, our reputation, or even our physical strength/beauty.  And what if they fail us or are taken away?

Jesus counsels us to invest in treasure that cannot lose value.  “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." (Matthew 6:19-21, The Message) There is such assurance in those words. Failing economies are of little consequence to those who own Heaven’s treasure.  Age only means we are closer to Home!  We can know a Friend Who will never abandon us, never move away, never forget us.

Marie’s love of the Lord is all she has left. Or, could it be that is the wrong way to see it?  Her true Treasure, Whom she loved for so many years, is now the Love of her life.  Most other things are gone, but He remains.

Is Jesus your Lord?
Is your life built on an eternal hope of knowing Him?

Here’s a word from the Word -  "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—(Ecclesiastes 12:1, NIV)  "Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession." (Malachi 3:16-17, NIV)

_______

Father, You are my portion in this life,

And You are my hope and my delight.

Jesus, You are my treasure in this life,

And You are so pure and so kind.

And I love You, yes, I love You,

Lord, I love You, my delight!

My Delight

Andy Park

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