“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

Mr. Shakespeare, speaking through the lips of Macbeth, gives a rather negative view of life here and it reminds me of the writer of Ecclesiastes as well in how he describes life apart from God.  Corrie ten Boom put it like this, “Look around and be distressed, look inside and be depressed, look at Jesus and be at rest.”  That, my friend, is the key; keeping the vertical in life is what makes life worth living for a life lived without seeking God is a life, no matter how pleasurable or rich in nature, empty and devoid of any real meaning.

In my reading this morning I was in Psalm 90 and Isaiah 35; both speak to this idea; Psalm 90 with how we are but dust or grass that withers and disappears after a day and a plea to the Lord to look with favor upon Moses and the people he is leading.

“For we have been consumed by Your anger

And by Your wrath we have been terrified.

You have placed our iniquities before You,

Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

For all our days have declined in Your fury;

We have finished our years like a sigh.”

“So teach us to number our days,

That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,

That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

Psalm 90:7-9, 12, 13 NASB

The writer of Hebrews speaks to this;

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12: 1, 2 NASB (emphasis added)

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus…” ( “…looking to Jesus…” as another translation puts it) implies a looking away from something else and that is the key.  We can try to live a fulfilled life by embracing both the cross and the cornucopia, but we will be as miserable and troubled as a man with one foot on the pier and one foot in a canoe.  Choose today to look away from the “…walking shadow…” that is life without Christ and look to the One who is the Source of all that is good.  Revel in life as it is meant to be lived now, though only a shadow of what we will enjoy when we are Home, that we may all “…sing for joy and be glad all our days.”