Will you end on a cliffhanger?

Your life is a cliffhanger.

Today, my church finished its two and half year series on the Book of Acts. And honestly, the end of the Book of Acts leaves me wondering, what next? The wonder of Luke's second volume is that he doesn't conclude, mainly because there is no conclusion. He is passing the baton. He is saying "Now, go and do likewise..."

Half of the time I am left wondering, okay, what next? I have my eyes on the prize, but sometimes I don't know how specifically to win it. Sometimes I wonder if we need the humility to see it. Do you realize that your death, to some, will just feel like you have blindly walked off the cliff chasing after something? Will we accept the fact that our lives on this Earth will be cliffhangers that will leave others around us with the eerie understanding of the finality of death mixed with the inconclusiveness of its mystery?

I certainly despise this talk about the finality of death. The fact is, there is no finality in death. But there is finality in eternity: one of the mysterious truths we can source from such an oxymoron. Eternity goes on whether separated or reunited with God, and that is your finale. You will either suffer in separation or prosper in praise.

When we consider the Gospel of Jesus, we realize that there was no finality in His death, it was a cliffhanger. Sure, there seemed to be little hope for those left behind, but in three days, He would rise again. His eternal life was secured. Our eternal life is secured in Him if we would but trust in Him.

The question remains when life is but a cliffhanger until the finality of Jesus' return and until the eternal fate and destination of everyone is realized, will you allow the story of your life to point toward the finale? No good story with a cliffhanger should distract from the culmination we long for, the fulfillment we seek. No good story should live without God in the name of God and praise God later in eternity. We all want a good ending. Wouldn't it be anticlimactic to end a story we have been telling with incongruity? Dissonance is found in the Christian life that rarely praised God daily, and - at its passing - praises God for eternity.

In the end, the grander story, the greater story, will end (and truly start beginning) with the return of our Savior and Judge, Jesus. The question is, when Luke passes the baton to us and leaves the mission of Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8 on our shoulders, will you take it upon yourself to make the best use of this cliffhanger? Will the cliffhanger of your life point to the greatest finale of all time?

So what are you going to do?

Acts 28:31 says in conclusion that Paul was

"proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance."

The words "without hindrance" or "unhindered" (Greek: akólutós) is really only used in this verse in the book of Acts and indicate how we are to proclaim this message. We are not to be held back by anything. God asks Saul "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (Acts 26:14). Saul is resisting the effectual call of God. And it just will not work for him, Saul will be changed. And as we can see from the Book of Acts, Zealous Saul the persecutor of Christians becomes Zealous Paul, proclaimer of Christ crucified.

The cliffhanger for Paul is all worthwhile. His life finds no finality in the book of Acts, but we see him doing the very thing he was called to do. We see his effectual call meets effectual change meeting a life that lines up with the eternal praise he now sings to God in eternity.

In humility, Paul accepts that his life's purpose is to make more of God, which infers we must make less of ourselves. The cliffhanger of his life points to the greatest finale of all time. Will you end on a cliffhanger? And will you be okay that there is no finale, no great reputation of yours, no praise after your death that will ever measure to the praise and glory and honor that the God of Glory will receive on that final day when Jesus returns in such splendor?

When, with such humility as Paul, I can merely point to the hope of that finale in my own life and people left behind here on earth are left with the surety of my eternal home with the fire and zeal of seeking to continue such a mission, life will have meant something.

Because with billions of cliffhangers, I will only be contented, they will only be contented when they are resting and praising the God who holds them for eternity.

That is the kind of finality homeless children long for.