I saw Jim at one of our Christmas Eve services for the first time in two years. He was bent over in his wheelchair when I greeted him, seated next to his wife, Maggie. Jim did not recognize me when I took his hands and greeted him, even though he has been a fellow pastor for many years and like a grandfather to our children. Jim's mind and body have been ravaged by Alzheimer's disease. Maggie has suffered in similar tragic ways. They are one of the most godly, gentle couples I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Jim's favorite farewell in his Irish brogue was always, 'The best is yet to come!"
This is hard to believe looking at him now.
Ben Rector is a singer-songwriter with a particular talent for holiday songs. His Christmas album is excellent and his Thanksgiving song captures the feeling of my favorite American holiday with poignant beauty. So, I was pleased, but not surprised, when Ben came out with a song for New Years Eve last week. It's called The Best is Yet to Come. A Bruce Hornsby meets Coldplay mashup of soulful piano and soaring melody backed by a children's choir, it's a modern take on Auld Lang Sine that could well become a standard for New Year's well-wishers. It's both reflective and honest about the 'wildest menagerie of unfortunate crazy things' this passing year, yet unsinkably buoyant about the one to come.
'So raise up your glasses for brand new beginnings, and don't shed a tear for the things that are ending, cos' tomorrow will bring us a new morning sun, friends I believe that the best is yet to come.'
While the lilting hope of the song strikes a chord, it's sunny optimism jars with the minor-key melancholy of our moment. I so want to believe it to be true. I just don't know if I can after looking at Jim's vacant eyes and a myriad other sad people with sad stories. How can one's expectations not be tempered by the wild menagerie of crazy unfortunate things that was 2021?'
Perhaps one's expectation should rather be something like, "It's going to be hard, but God will be with us and will get us through." Not as lyrical, I know, but certainly more livable? And yet, do the Scriptures not invite us to trust the God who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine? Surely this means more than merely He will get us through?
My question is this. Is the oft-quoted, the best is yet to come just a cruel cliche' that will leave us with a Champagne hangover on New Year's Day? Or could it be a solid joy that carries us through the darkest of years when rightly understood?
Reading Jonathan Edwards essay on Christian Happiness has made me land firmly on the latter. The theologian who became president of Princeton University was best known for his revival preaching during the Great Awakening. A deeper Christian thinker you would struggle to find, yet Edwards was relentlessly hopeful. In his essay, he distills the secret of Christian Happiness down to three truths.
"All our good things cannot be taken away.
All our bad things will come to pass.
All our best things are yet to come."
If we look at Edwards' statements through the lens of Romans 8 we can understand they are solid statements, not empty cliche's. The Apostle Paul writes that our adoption as God's dear children cannot be taken away; that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of our Father in Christ Jesus. All our good things cannot be taken away.
He insists that God is working in all things - even the worst things - for His glory and our good if we are His. Even our weakness is working for our good as the Spirit groans in intercession for us. One day we will see all our bad things will come to pass.
He argues that our momentary sufferings cannot compare to the weight of glory that awaits us. In fact, he writes, all of creation groans in anticipation of the glory that will be revealed to us and through us. Our groaning will turn to rejoicing on that day.
In short, the Apostle Paul and Jonathan Edwards would concur with Jim and Ben.
Our best things are, in fact, yet to come.
This does not mean that the New Year necessarily brings a brand new day or even a brand new you. It means that God is making all things new and if we are in his hands we will be included in His grand renovation project. This is no cruel cliche'. This is a solid joy for a New Year, even if that year carries with it another wild menagerie of unfortunate crazy things.
