By and By...

Have you ever heard the old gospel song, “We’ll Understand It Better By and By”? It was written 1905 by Charles Albert Tinley (1851-1933), a self-taught Methodist Episcopal Church minister from the East Coast. I don’t think I knew this was actually a song until I was an adult, but I remember hearing the phrase, “You’ll understand it better by and by” as a kid. I loved listening to Carlton Pearson’s version of the song. Somehow, it pleasantly reminded me of my grandparents-my grandmother, in particular. The lyrics of the refrain are as follows…

“By and by when the morning comes

All the saints of God are gathered home

We’ll tell the story of how we’ve overcome

For we’ll understand it better by and by”

The point was that, as a kid, I may not have understood, at the time, the significance of what was being told to me (good or bad) by my elders, but I would understand it later when I had some years and maturity on me. Pastor Tinley’s song reminds us that we will not understand the purposes of all that we have had to endure/suffer here on earth until we are home with our Father in Heaven.

Now, please bear with me. My favorite book of the Bible is Philippians. I am always in awe of the Apostle Paul who talked of the importance of the sharing the gospel of Christ, having the mind of Christ, and the excellency of the knowledge or the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus while incarcerated. So, I have read Philippians many times. Recently, I recalled chapter 3, verses 4b-9...

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not (emphasis mine) having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…”

Fast forward to the other day when I was reading Romans 12 when I had to just stop and hover over verses 3-8.

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another, Having gifts that differ according to grace given to us, let us uses them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation the one who contribute, in generosity; the one who leads with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

What a reminder to me to stop with the comparative righteousness. Truly, it is the dumbest thing! We earn degrees. We have our artistic/academic/athletic/humanitarian accomplishments. We have amazing opportunities to do all sorts of things. Believe it or not, however, the reality is that we have them not because we are so great, but because God is so great, and He has given us those things. We have what we have (i.e., possessions, gifts/abilities, faith, etc.) because of God. The passage reminds me to not think of myself more highly than I ought to think but to think with sober judgment. In other words, I was born a sinner, but through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, I was given faith to believe in the gospel when I heard it, The Holy Spirit led me to confess and repent of my sins, to surrender to Christ Jesus in the faith that was given to me. I am now saved by grace through faith which was a gift of God not of my works, so I cannot boast. My gifts were never meant to be used to exalt myself over others or degrade myself. I (and you, too) was given gifts by grace to use in worship-to bring honor and glory to God. My gifts are different from other people’s and the measure/amount of faith I have is different from others. It (my faith) is going to be less than some and more than others. Whatever the case may be, I ought to build myself up in my holy faith (Jude 20). It is a complete waste of time, not to mention sinful, to compare my measure of faith with someone else’s measure of faith because it is all given by God according to His will/His purposes. I deserve Hell and I was headed there, before my Father, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, intervened, blessed me and saved me.

I am not home with the Lord yet, but I understand better what Paul was talking about…by and by. I hold college degrees. I possess awards in athletics. I have had experiences that people would love to have. I realize that these things did not happen because of me, but because of God who desired me to use those platforms for the sharing of and living out of the gospel. And, compared to knowing to Christ as my Savior, well. . .those things don’t even measure up in the least.