The Echoes Of Eternity Poem by David Knox

It has taken coming back to a place of hopelessness to show me
The greatest source of hope is the paradox of pressure and value
The greatest hope that conquered my hopelessness and uselessness
Was actually the realization that all that I have done
All my good deeds, all my striving, all my work is
A pile of filthy rags
All my good deed stink as a noxious pile of rags
It has always been like this, and so it shall be
So then why did I being to expect different?
Why did I begin to desire them to mean something in themselves
They are by themselves meaningless
I can add no value to my worth, no value to my existence
What then shall I say

Is it true I don't matter?
IS it true that my good deed are meaningless?
Is is true that I have no purpose because I cannot add value

NOT SO

This is actually my greatest source of hope
You see what I do, only matters in its echoes for eternity
What I do only matters in and through Christ
So I have no pressure to succeed
No fear of failure
The reason I cannot add to my value is because it is infinity
The reason my works have no meaning is because all their
Purpose, value, goodness, and lasting impact comes from God Himself
I cannot create this value. all my strivings are a chasing after the wind


If all that I've done is simply filthy rags it means it doesn't
Matter, good or bad, my worth it secure
My identity is set
My impact on the world is in Christ
It is not quantifiable
My mistake was beginning to desire to be a world changer
I forgot I already was a world changer
I am a world changer and no one and nothing can take that away from me
Not even myself
God is strong and uses those filthy rags to change eternity forever
But without Him they pass away with life

So what then shall I say?

Do I just not try in anything because it does not matter anyways?
Do I just give up on life because it's all filthy rags?

NOT SO

I strive to do my best, because I do that all that I do for God
But when I try my best and do it for Him it does not matter what happens
Because He inspires it with its meaning
There's no pressure because there's no value added


So God's message of hope is like most from Him
Counter-intuitive
It does not matter what you do
Good or bad
Because God is the source of meaning for all good we do
Because God died to forgive all sins past, present, and future
This gift of forgiveness and restoration
Is true freedom, the freedom to live our lives without any fear
This is why perfect love casts out all fear
This explains 1 John 4: 18 for the first time
Perfect love casts out all fear because there is no place for fear
What fear is there apart from performance?
Fear is inextricably connected to results and performance
Perfect love completely erases those concepts and all that God
Leave us with is faith, hope, and love.