Second Eves, listen...“All the days of my life ordained for me were written in your Book before any one of them happened” (Ps.139). That’s how it was. Now listen, Second Eves, to this interpretation I stumbled upon one day.
GOD: Jill, I have ordained you to be an accountant. You will come from a clan of studious people adroit in the computation of numbers and I will give you the fondness with numbers at an early age.
You will greatly excel in all your undertakings, in school and work, and you will meet a lot of people on your way up. Here they are (The Lord shows her the various faces she’ll meet in her life), and one of them will become your husband, Jack (Jack suddenly appears and is surprised and pleased to find Jill). How do you find her, Jack?
JACK: I am pleased with her, God!
GOD: Good. And you, Jill?
JILL: I think he’s perfect!
GOD: I always do things perfectly. However, as both of you will meet many others, be careful to choose each other in the end. I will be giving you your freewill especially in this matter. If you do things in life in Me, you’ll have no problem. I plan everything perfectly, but you’ve got to choose. Now listen…
(Jack and Jill move closer to God).
GOD: Here in my very presence, everything is pure. There’s only truth here, and it’s easy to agree with truth here. But on earth, there will always be choices between truth and lie. I want you to get this: There’s only one true goal in life on earth: To fully surrender your life to Jesus and let him live your life. That’s it. For He and I are One. Everything else is worthless. Zero. Many concerns, interests, and other priorities, even church stuff, will show themselves on earth, all begging your attention and life effort, time, and investment. It’s up to you to weigh things there.
But two things I assure you: I have planted in the hearts of all human beings the need for Me. That should be powerful enough for all to make the right decisions. Second, my imprint is all over creation. Anywhere you look, you’ll be reminded of Me.
Is there anything more?
(Both Jack and Jill shake their heads, smiling).
GOD: Good. Remember the real goal. So then, let your lives begin on earth! (And it was so. And God saw that it was good).
Thus, Jill’s would-be parents meet and marry and conceive her. Jill is born and grows up, exhibiting a talent for numbers. She’s a persistent mathematician in class, from grade school to college.
In college, she opts for business administration, but shifts to accountancy after two years. She works for two accounting firms before meeting Jack in the third, where Jack is a senior clerk.
Later, they both become curious about a bible study in their office and decide to receive Jesus into their lives. They join a Christian church and marry there. Throughout everything, God has been there giving enough influence, providing directions, signs, and clues to guide them to the one goal in life—total surrender to Jesus, letting Him live their lives on earth. But God never forces them to decide anything. Their freewill has been kept intact.
ANGEL: They’ve finally reached their goal, my Lord!
GOD: Not quite. They haven’t even entered the threshold of my Will yet.
ANGEL: Lord? What do you mean? They’re born again and very active in church!
GOD: Yes, but that’s not the main goal. They still haven’t a clue about it.
ANGEL: You mean, what they’re doing now isn’t total surrender? But they’re so dedicated in church!
GOD: I didn’t say anything about commitment to any church. I told them about living The LIFE, My LIFE, on earth. Open your eyes and see what they’re really dedicating their whole lives to.
The angel obeys. (In the very Presence, you have no choice).
ANGEL: I see it now, My Lord. They’re pursuing their careers to give quality life for their kids on earth. Church is just a thrice a week program they feel they have to do so that God will bless their material possessions and earthly achievements.
GOD: More than that, you see, I look at what’s in the heart. They refuse to truly surrender their whole lives to Me. They pursue their careers, everyday, to make life comfortable on earth. They actually scorn the cross. They hate being poor. And that’s what they think—total life surrender would make their lives poor and miserable. So they just give me a small part of their lives and make up for the rest by “serving God in church.”
ANGEL: What should they do?
GOD: What I really want is to see My beloved Son in them. Remember, only in Jesus Am I well pleased. I have set my seal of approval on Him alone. Unless it’s the Son who lives in them, I will never be pleased.
Enter Dale. Dale becomes the friend of Jack and Jill one day. He’s among the few members of a small church with a poor pastor. They often hear about total surrender from Dale, giving up everything and letting Christ live in them as the apostle Paul had experienced, but they never take Dale seriously. Dale is too extreme. He takes God’s will too literally. Moreover, they feel that Dale and his church and pastor are not really that successful in life—they’re poor—and do not have anything to show for what they are preaching.
Unlike their pastor who is really successful—he has titles and degrees and big-time recognitions and a big, peopled, and moneyed church. Almost everyone in his church is either rich or getting richer. They’re really blessed. You got to have credentials like that to be heard and believed. They would rather take such people seriously than Dale and his ilk.
But in fairness, they admire Dale. He was once on top of his company, working like a crazy beaver daily, until he joined that small church of extreme believers who looked like a cult or something. He started being “ordinary” in his office, sold his car, huge property, and all his expensive cell phones (kept a cheap one for himself) and other accessories, gave the money to the poor and the ministry, and started living really simple. He got a much smaller house for him and his wife and family.
What’s crazier with Dale is that he and his fellows go to their small, poorly built church only twice a month. The rest of the Sundays they spend with their respective families to “raise them up” deeply in God’s Word, whatever that means. And they sometimes do that in parks, plazas, malls, or at home. Dale insists that it’s the LIFE that matters, offering our bodies as living sacrifices, which is our true spiritual worship. Where we do this is not important. You can even do it inside your bathroom on Sundays, he says with a silly chuckle.
“Now,” he once quipped, “we have more time studying the Word really in depth with the Spirit of God and living it out daily, to be really like Christ. There’s nothing more important than to see Christ really appear in us!”
How over-acting, Jack and Jill thought to themselves. And how weird. They were just glad their pastor taught them that God’s grace made you enjoy life on earth safely—even if you became a bit more materialistic than others. Anyway, it’s just a bit more—God will understand. It’s His grace. All you have to do is serve Him in church. That secured God’s grace for you.
Jack and Jill and Dale grow old and finally die. They face God.
GOD: Hello Dale! What do you have there?
DALE: God, sorry, I lost everything. I know you gave me a lot of blessings, but I just gave them all away, didn’t give them much importance. I guess I’m not a good steward? Now, I left almost nothing to my wife and kids.
GOD: He who loses his life for my sake will save it for eternity. Good and faithful steward. Come right in.
GOD: And…who are you?
JACK: God, I’m Jack and this is Jill, my wife. Remember?
GOD: Sorry, I do not know you.
JILL: Didn’t we preach in the streets and did miraculous things in your name? We were active in all of the church’s activities!
GOD: I only have eyes for My Son. If you have let Him live your life to do My Will, I would have seen you do those things…
Second Eves
