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Task lists are a big part of my life. I’m very task-oriented, and while I know that’s not the best way for a human being to live, it is who I am and I try to make the best of it.
Of course, that’s not always an easy undertaking.
My daily task list regularly has more than a dozen large projects on it, most of which I have no chance of accomplishing in a day or even week’s time. The longer the list gets, of course, the less chance I have of actually completing anything as my brain begins to be overwhelmed, my stress level increases, and the panic attacks start.
That’s why this morning this thought of a “task completed” meant so much to me.
See, the greatest task that haunts the human heart/mind continuum, the single greatest “to-do” that we’ve never managed to do, is this: restore ourselves to God’s good graces.
Ever since the Garden, when our first parents chose self or obedience, we’ve been stuck on the outside of God’s more cherished presence. We live in an imperfect and broken world because we are inherently broken and imperfect. Like fish made for open waters but stuffed into a clearly insufficient tank, we were made to be in God’s most immediate presence, and our current situation falls far short.
Sure, some us have tried to correct this issue on our own. The Tower of Babel being one biblically notable example, but nothing has worked. All of our good deeds, our spiritual strivings, our questing for internal peace cannot open the doors to eternal peace in the presence of God Almighty.
Enter Jesus.
Enter the Son of God, sent by the Father to open those doors, to die a death that we deserved, paying our penalty and earning us a shot at new life in a new creation. He has done this for us.
I don’t listen to music as much as I did as a newly, automotively liberated teen, but I do try to listen to and sing along with worship music during my ride to work. I find that it helps to focus my heart and my mind while simultaneously waking me up for the day’s activity. The past two mornings, I’ve found myself listening to the song “It Is Finished” by Dustin Kensrue. The lyrics of which I’ve included:
“It Is Finished” | YouTube – Acoustic Version
There’s no deed that can redeem us
There’s no rite, no magic word
Only by the work of Jesus
Can salvation be securedIt is finished! He has done it!
Let your weary heart rejoice
Our redemption is accomplished
Raise a shout with ragged voiceAnd go bravely into battle
Knowing He has won the war
It is finished, lift your head
And weep no moreThere’s no sacrifice to offer
There’s no penance to complete
Freely drink of living water
Without money come and feastLet every sinner rejoice
Hear the dying victor’s cry
Raise up your voice
Sing it out through earth and sky
This song has meant so much to me these past few days, as my task list has continued to expand beyond all sensible limits.
To think–the greatest task I could ever hope to tackle, the singularly most important thing that I could ever check off my list, has been accomplished for me by God Himself. This task that absolutely had to be ticked off before I breathed my last that I had no hope of actually accomplishing has been accomplished on my behalf. I did not earn this great favor, nor do I deserve this divine act of charity. I am merely a thankful recipient of His mercy and grace.
How wonderful to be able to declare, with full assurance, that this eternally important task of being restored to a right relationship with God has been taken care of it!
My friends, when life gets to be too much, when the task list is never ending, look at your heart, see how it has been changed by the work of Jesus, and declare with your mouth: “It is finished! He has done it!”