“And when that final moment comes and I’m breathing my last breath,
I’ll be saying to myself, ‘Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all there is.’”
Peggy Lee’s famous song goads us Christians to practice true Advent, that there is, as N.T. Wright put it, “life after life” when Jesus takes us home. That means, don’t get too comfortable, too settled in our present life. Please, read the following carefully. “Deliver my soul from the wicked…from men of the world whose portion is in this life” (Psalm 17:14). The psalmist was having big time problems with enemies slandering him, wanting to do violence, even kill him. He describes them as people “whose portion is in this life.” “In this life,” not in the life to come. Where’s your portion in life? Affluent American society. Many of us have very nice homes. We can afford to pay for outside Christmas decorations. Come summer, we can have a yard service. Retirement? Funded! Os Guinness observed that many Christians, even though we go through religious ritual, are virtual atheists. Is “life after life” in our mind when we awake, go to work, come home, and “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord…” You know how the prayer ends.
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26). “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake…” Life after life! “When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:18). “And this I ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”