‘But thou hast kept the good wine until now.’ His opinion has become a classic statement of the superiority of the Christian experience over that of the worldling. First of all, the world serves the best. That is an obvious illustration. It does. Youth comes before old age – youth, and vigour, and good health, and dreams, and love, and all the things that you associate with youth, as well as optimism and adventure, discoveries and new experiences. But then life goes on – marriage, family, chores and drudgery, the irksome responsibilities, the burdens, the making ends meet. Then greater responsibility, poor health, failing bodily parts, pains, difficulties, many disappointments, old age and weakness, and ultimately death. That is the experience of the worldling. The best, good as it might be, is at the front, and from then on it is a downhill run for most people.
But the Christian experience is the exact opposite. It starts with conviction of sin. The Christian experience starts with the low: I feel what a wretched individual I am; I feel my spiritual bankruptcy and how I need to repent and yield my life to Christ. Then I become a child of God. What a happy experience it is, and all things are changed! But I am in form one, year one. I am learning the meaning of life all over again. I am learning the great things of God and the Bible. But it gets better and better – answers to prayer, experiences, and as time goes by, we become by the grace of God that much deeper, that much richer in experience of God’s goodness and kindness and mighty power. Then we are getting older, and anticipation now is the key thing in life because soon it will be heaven, and meeting with Christ and eternal glory. The Christian has seen the worst, and now is going upwards to that heavenly home.