Beautiful Ending

I was reading a devotional book - Daniel by Beth Moore, I strongly recommend it - and the thought struck me (it had nothing to do with the devo, so I have no idea from whence this idea came hahahehe), what would Saul have been able to do if he had devoted his life to God?

And I kept on thinking...Saul started out as a really cool guy! He had a ton going for him, and, in the beginning, he really loved God (or so I gather from the stories).

And then, it's like WHOA!

What happened?

What changed? Why did Saul start chasing after the world? He could've been such an amazing king if he'd kept his focus on the right place!

All over the Bible, there are stories like Saul's - Uzziah, Solomon, Asa, Joash, etc. (ironically, these are all kings!) - where the kings started out as SUCH GODLY MEN, but forgot God in the end. What was it? Pride? I think so.

There are also a ton of stories about people like Ahab and Delilah and Judas, people who were bad to begin with and bad through the end. We don't like to recant those stories very much - they're depressing and ugly.

Seriously!!! What could these people have done if they'd stuck to the straight and narrow?

People remember Biblical heroes like Hezekiah, David, Ruth, Esther, Mordecai, and Joseph (as in coat of many colors guy) for sticking to God all their lives. It's their stories we like to tell, it's their stories about which we like to think. They stayed true to God, through thick and thin (I'm not saying they didn't make mistakes - we all make our fair share of 'em).

But then...oh, and then! We read about people like Rahab, Mary Magdalene, Judah (as in no coat of many colors guy), Manasseh, Paul - people who really had nasty beginnings but turned to God. We like to remember those people because their stories demonstrate how God can pick up the lowliest and use them in an astoundingly life-changing way!

There are people of each of these four categories in our lives - people who started off as awesome ol' folks but then turned away from God, people who were bad from the start, people who have been devoted to God from diaper days, and people who have checkered pasts but are such influential Christians now. And I can't help but think...

...on Judgement Day, all our stories are going to be told. What kind of people are we? Will we be proud of our life history? Will we be praising Jesus for His amazing redemption? Or will we be on our knees, mourning and wishing, with all our hearts, that we'd listened to God while we still had the chance?

There's a song by BarlowGirl called "Beautiful Ending" that perfectly fits this post. I strongly recommend that you listen to it.

Cordially,
Lady Rachel