Judy Collins: "Both Sides Now"

This thoughtful song shows how the wonder of life evaporates as we age. For example, clouds were wondrous but now they just dump on us. Love was so simple until we became adults. Life used to seem settled and certain too.

Listen to this song here:

In some ways, our Christian life mirrors secular life. We read of the conversion of Saul and how he became Paul in Acts 9:20 and 21 (Bible in Basic English). "And straight away, in the Synagogues, he was preaching Jesus as the Son of God. And all those hearing him were full of wonder and said, 'Is not this the man who in Jerusalem was attacking all the worshippers of this name? and he had come here so that he might take them as prisoners before the chief priests.'"

The disciple whom Christ loved ranked spiritual maturity, highest to lowest, in 1 John 2:13 (BBE). "I am writing to you, fathers, because you have knowledge of him who was from the first. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil One. I have sent a letter to you, children, because you have knowledge of the Father."

And as we progress through school to adulthood, we find the same maturing happening in our knowledge of God and his Word. As 1 Corinthians 13:9 and 10 (BBE) says, "For our knowledge is only in part, and the prophet's word gives only a part of what is true: But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary."

In the meantime, we need to concentrate on what the Lord has given us to learn. Like Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:15 (BBE), we must, "Let it be your care to get the approval of God, as a workman who has no cause for shame, giving the true word in the right way."

If our Lord hasn't come by Monday, I hope to post about self-made outcasts from life.