MAN'S BEST STATE

By Todd Pekel

 

Not knowing man's best state I decided to investigate. So, yesterday, between classes I popped open my Bible to read a Psalm or two and came upon some verses of Scripture that are truly outstanding.

Psalm 39:4-5:
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

What is our life, really, in the grand scheme of things?

James 4:14:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Recently, I was made to understand how totally selfish, self-centered and absorbed in our own little, mundane world we can be at times! What’s the big picture, one asks? What’s it all about, we cry? Well, the big picture is God and it’s all about his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. After all, it’s his gospel, his eternal kingdom, and his work. He is the Head above all in the Church.

Ephesians 4:15:
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Colossians 1:18:
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to get so absorbed in our own little world, that we lose sight of the big picture. Brothers and Sisters, these things ought not to be. As the Psalmist above declared, “man at his best state, is altogether vanity.”

Psalm 62:4:
They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

Man delights in lies. They consult to cast God down from His excellency. Whether of low or high degree, God says man is lighter than vanity.

Psalm 62:9:
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Wow! “They are altogether lighter than vanity.” Man is less than useless on his own. There is nothing man can do or bring to God in an attempt to justify himself or proclaim himself righteous, worthy, or just in the eyes of our God. Even our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before his glorious presence.

Isaiah 64:6:
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

How underwhelmingly inconsequential man is apart from, and separated from God. In “his best state, man is altogether vanity,” we have read. Is there anything we can do on our own? Our Lord has given us that answer.

John 15:5:
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Without our Lord, we can do nothing. Even as our Lord, without his Father, could do nothing.

John 9:33:
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

John 5:30:
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

So what’s the point you ask? Our Lord just supplied us with the answer; did you see it? “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

When teaching his disciples about prayer, Jesus Christ taught the following:

Matthew 6:9-13:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The words “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” are emphatic. One could well read and understand them as, COME! Thy Kingdom, BE DONE! Thy will, in earth as it is in heaven.

When we seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, everything that we have need of, will be added unto us.

Matthew 6:33:
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

After all, if our Lord sought the will of his Father and could do nothing of his own (and he was the sinless Son of God mind you) how much more should we seek and pray that God’s Kingdom come and his will be done? Let us be doers of the will of God and not hearers only.

James 1:22:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

It is the only way we can be blessed.

James 1:25:
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

By doing the will of God we can escape man’s best state, which is altogether vanity, and enter into God’s best state of righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Romans 14:17:
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Let us pray, “Come! Thy Kingdom; Be Done! Thy will, on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

 

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From the September 2001 issue of The Vine & Branches