A guest post by Ken

Yesterday our church choir and band put on an amazing musical. It was powerful, inspiring and God-honoring. The band was incredible, the choir was energized, and the soloists blew my socks off.

One song in particular captured my attention. Actually it was one line. The song exalted the names of God. One title in particular: Alpha and Omega, The beginning and the end. I have heard those words describe God countless times before. But this time “The End” really grabbed a hold of me.

The End.

Not a particularily fancy title. It’s not like… Bright Morning Star, Consuming Fire, or Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

I must admit, I am more comfortable thinking of God as the Beginning. The Creator. The One who spoke all things into existence. Rarely do I think about the God who stops time. The One who finishes what He started.

But yesterday my mind was racing as I thought about God as The End.

If God is “The End,” then so many other things are NOT the end.

The spouse who says, “It’s over. I am not in love with you anymore.” That’s not the end.

The doctor says “It’s cancer and there’s nothing more that can be done.” That’s not the end.

The foreman says, “We’re downsizing and we have to let you go.” That’s not the end.

We’ve tried to support a woman who claimed to be pregnant only to find out there never were any children. Even she doesn’t get to be the end. [“And may the Lord deal with her be it ever so severly.”*]

Today as I sat in a funneral service. I heard family and friends recount the life of a faithful and godly man. The truth rang out powerfully: even death is not the end. We may put the body in a box. Bury it in the ground, but that’s not the end. Not even close. The Bible talks about this life as a moment. Compared to eternity this is the bat of an eyelash.

When we put our faith in God, we acknowledge that HE IS THE END. Our circumstances do not dictate how we live our lives. We orient ourselves around the one who truly has the final say about ALL things. We may not always get our way, but we are not controlled by the things of this world that seem to be final. They are not. He is.

It may have only been a couple of syllables in the midst of a powerful and stirring musical performance, but what an amazing truth: GOD IS THE END AND NOTHING ELSE EVEN COMES CLOSE!

* 1 Samuel 3:17, 14:44, 2 Samuel 3:35, 19:13, 1 Kings 2:23, 19:2, 20:10, 2 Kings 6:31