Hi John,
This evening I picked up an article of yours entitled “A Better End” which you had written when Josiah and Kaylie were married, and it caught my attention.
Some of the truths in it really rang true in light of the hour we are in. I typed up a few things that I thought were especially important to fathers and every believer, really.
Here are the things you wrote that stood out to me:
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon is quoted in the King James version as saying: “better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof” (Eccl.7:8). But that is true only in cases of something bad. The end of disease in your body, for example, is better than the start of it; and the end of a war on earth is better than the beginning of that war.
If marriage sanctioned by God ends in divorce, the end is certainly not better than the beginning. God hates that kind of end to a marriage he has sanctioned.
It is the completion, not the untimely end of a good thing that is better than the beginning of it. And that is true of every good thing in this life, including life itself.
For our ends to be better than our beginnings we have to start something good, and then complete it. Continue in the good things God has given you; be patient, and let them bear fruit. If we love what good thing God has granted [us], then we will all do our part to give [each other] the help [we] need to reach that expected, better end. May God give us the grace to do so.
The thing that stood out to me was that to truly be like Christ, we can’t stop short of completion. The changes God requires of us now must happen, and then they must “stick.” That is the “better end”, that is our victorious testimony. That is the life God wants for us: faithful now, and faithful to the end. Changed now, and walking in that change till the end.
And “any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5). I have always loved that verse. If we believe it, if our heart is in it, God will do it. Why wouldn’t He? That is our better end.
Gary