Wisdom's Call: 30 Days in the House of LifeEsimerkki

DEATH IS UNATURAL

The holey little holes In my skin, Millions of little Secret graves, Filled with dead Feelings That won’t stay Dead. The hairy little hairs On my head, Millions of little Secret trees Filled with dead Birds, That won’t stay Dead. When I die, I won’t stay Dead. —Bob Kaufman

The words of an obscure American beat and surrealist poet Bob Kaufman would make a fitting epitaph for a child of God. In his poem “Dolorous Echo,” Kaufman focuses in on one specific, tiny life cycle God has put on display throughout the universe: the constant regeneration of his heart, his emotions, his fears, his joys, all expressed through the constant life cycle of his own body. Kaufman decides:

We were made to live, not die.

The wisdom of life is constantly on display, right before our eyes; it is so very near, so very clear. Bards throughout the ages have spilled much ink reflecting on life, beauty, and eternity in panoramic terms; some are wonderfully gifted with that special ability to turn phrases that speak of what our souls see and hear. Too often for us to ignore, they inadvertently speak truth of Wisdom’s house directly to the Follydwellers. It’s no surprise that though Kaufman kept company with those who denied God’s existence, literary critics still hear in his work a poetic pondering that longs for some sort of immortality, perhaps even eternality. Though an admitted Buddhist, he still yearned for immortality— and here God was, faithful to reveal it to him through his own skin—his own God-made body that he wore every day.

Wisdom-dwellers and Folly-dwellers alike know that there is a God who created us, that He loves true Life for which we were created, that He hates our separation from it, and that He is not pleased that our lives have been given over to sin and death. And so He is constantly speaking to us through Wisdom’s creation language, declaring to us “I AM.”

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. (Rom. 1:18–20)

With each new dusk and dawn, the knowledge that God is present and ever-presenting Himself is displayed. This world, in its fallen state, fits like an ill-fitting shoe whose pressure sores remind us that despite Wisdom’s imprint, this is not the world for which we were made. And so God shouts, and whispers, and shows Himself in and out of time through our living landscapes.

Scripture tells us that Kaufman is right. Whether one dwells together with Wisdom in Christ and enters His promise of salvation, or if one is left in the decaying house of Folly, everyone will eventually die— and live again. But to which life will they enter? A life set apart from the Creator Christ, or the one that is eternally separated from Him? For each of us will die, and none of us will “stay dead.”

Only those who have been made alive to answer Wisdom’s call, and who have repented to believe in Jesus Christ, will live in the glorious world for which we were created. Those who have wholly given themselves over to Folly, to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh, will live a very different sort of life for eternity.

This is your moment to answer definitively. In whose house will you live?