A Catalyst of Transformation

The results of transformation are often obvious while the catalyst for that transformation is often mysterious. For example, we may observe a person who has been addicted to a habit, like smoking cigarettes or over-eating, suddenly set aside their obsession. Less obvious may be the catalyst for such a change. Perhaps a doctor had privately announced that if they did not abandon their behavior, they would be dead in the span of a few months. In this case, the prospect of dying overwhelms the craving for nicotine that diminishes lung capacity or the dainty morsel that keeps adding girth to the waistline. We may observe the change but perhaps not the reason.

Often when a transformation occurs people try to explain what may have ignited the obvious change. In the March 2012 issue of the National Geographic there is a feature article entitled “The Journey of the Apostles.” In the article a Benedictine monk and historian, Columba Stewart, says this about the early church leadership. There was no great organizational structure behind their movement but a “tiny, vulnerable, poor, often persecuted group of people who were on fire with something… blasting out of Jerusalem and scattering across the known world.” They were intent on spreading the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross where he died for the sins of the world. This was the same group for the most part that had abandoned Jesus. They fled their rabbi, Jesus, when he was arrested by the Romans in the Garden of Gethsemane. The key spokesperson for their band, Peter, was the same one that on three separate occasions denied that he even knew Jesus. After Jesus was buried and even after reports had come to them indicating that Jesus was raised from the dead, this same group hid behind locked doors fearing what the religious establishment and the Roman government might do to them.

A transformation took place and their timidity was replaced with a bold message that Jesus was their risen Savior and Lord, and this was good news the whole world needed to hear. The religious community that tried to silence the apostles took notice of the transformation of Jesus’ followers. Seeing the boldness of the apostles they “realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men” and “they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). In other words they saw a transformation whereas once ordinary men were now living extraordinary lives. They were astonished because the catalyst for such a change was seemingly mysterious to these religious leaders.

I suggest the catalyst for such a change was a dynamic encounter with the risen Christ and a direct commission from the risen Lord as to what they were supposed to do. The encounter came when they had lost hope. Two disciples on the road to Emmaus said, “We had hoped he (Jesus) was the one to redeem Israel” (Like 24:21). Those words reflect defeat and despair born from the events of recent days when they saw Jesus die on a cross and then placed in a tomb. Their hope was buried with Jesus’ body. Now on this desolate road they encountered a risen Jesus and he ignited their cold, hopeless hearts so they became burning hearts of passionate hope (24:32). Later that same risen Jesus would speak to a gathering of the apostles and give them a commission “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations” (24:47). I suppose you could say that the risen Christ Jesus was the catalyst to ignite their lives and then tell them where to burn.

In this Easter season we see worldwide that the transformation begun centuries ago continues. People who encountered by faith the risen Christ are boldly testifying of their faith in places like India, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Nigeria, China, Afghanistan, and even our own country – regardless of the cost. They realize that the Gospel, the good news, is for all nations. Those who are transformed by a dynamic encounter with the risen Savior are so changed by what Christ has done for them that they do not worry what others think or how others treat them for their faith. Paul describes those so transformed as being “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Those who are part of that new creation just naturally love to share with others how this transformation has occurred. The catalyst for this transformation should not remain a mystery. He is the risen Jesus Christ and he should be the focal point of a transforming message.

In this season when there is at least a discussion of Jesus’ resurrection, may those who have been transformed by Jesus Christ “give a reason for the hope that lies within them” (1 Peter 3:15). For those who are curious about these who profess such claims, consider and investigate the claims for yourselves.

Coupling Attitude with Activities

The advertisers have gone full throttle in declaring that February is the “love month.” Red hearts, cupids, candy, romantic cards, and other Valentine paraphernalia abound as merchandisers hope to capitalize upon the notion that this is the month to express love. Does love have a shelf life? Is love not appropriate at other times of the year?

Tragically the “love” being merchandized is more sentimental than real. Real love couples emotions and attitudes with investments and actions. Many people talk about love without actually loving. Amy Carmichael captured how genuine love needs to behave when she wrote, “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

Attitude plays a very important part in how you and I live. An attitude of love gives our work value. Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 that even the most astounding works and amazing sacrifices, when devoid of the attitude of love, have diminished impact and “it profits me nothing.” Too often one’s attitude minimizes the impact of his efforts. To God, our attitude means as much as our activities.

During the earthly ministry of Christ, certain religious leaders stressed activity much more than attitude. They fulfilled religious activities, rituals, and obligations in compliance with the Law. However, they acted without an attitude of love for God or the people to whom God had them minister. Thus their activities became showcases of self-centeredness and self-promotion. They produced charitable deeds to be noticed by men (Matthew 6:1-4). They prayed so that people would observe them (Matthew 6:5-6). They engaged in religious exercises, like fasting, to be recognized (Matthew 6:16-18). They gave their funds so that they would be acknowledged (Luke 21:1-2). Christ called them hypocrites and their deeds hypocritical (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16). It appears, as one person put it, “God much prefers acts of love to acts of duty.”

Actions must be coupled with our attitudes too. Our lives cannot be filled with sterile emotion that does not give birth to meaningful action. Jesus consistently reminded his disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words” (John 14:15, 23, 24). There is a notion among some Christians that our emotion trumps our actions, suggesting that as long as I express love for God in some strong, emotional way, then how I live is of little consequence.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The beloved apostle, John, reminds Christ’s followers, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). John wants love to move beyond emotion-induced words to deeds that show our relationship with God. John concludes, “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence” (3:19 NIV).

Coupling an attitude of love with actions of love displays Christ-like character. Jesus demonstrated His love for us by laying down His life for us (1 John 3:16). If we are His followers, then we ought to express our attitude of love with Christ-like actions. John fleshed out the principle when he commanded, “We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (3:16-17).

May we connect our faith and feelings to the functions we describe as “Christian living.” Let us move beyond mere sentiment and sympathetic words to practical expressions of faith. Our world needs to see faith and love in action. They also need to see actions that are focused upon glorifying Christ rather than self-centeredness and self-promotion. As Chris Tiegreen wrote, “The kingdom of God is not primarily about fulfilling responsibilities. It is more about expressing gratitude and about being passionate for His glory.” The world around us will recognize Christians by their practical, personal expressions of love (John 13:35).

This month make it your goal to fuse attitudes and actions that reflect love that is genuine and reflects the love of God. Paul had this in mind when he reminded husbands that they were to love their wives like Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). He makes it clear that that meant more than a box of chocolates and a flowery card. It meant loving so much that a willing sacrifice was the norm not the exception. In this season promoted as the ‘month of love,” lets really love in both word and deed.

Entering a New Year Unafraid

At age 24 Peter Marshall set foot on American soil at Ellis Island, New York, in 1927, a penniless Scottish immigrant. In a short period of some 22 years, he became one of America's greatest preachers. While he was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., he was appointed Senate Chaplain in 1947 and again in 1949. As one person put it, “Peter Marshall loved to preach; so sure was he that this was the thing God had designed him to do that it was hard for him to turn down engagements. His strength did not equal his enthusiasm and he collapsed in the pulpit with a heart attack in March, 1946.” In God’s providence, he died after his second heart attack at age 46 in 1949. After his death he was the subject of the book written by his wife, Catherine Marshall, and the subsequent movie entitled, "A Man Called Peter."

During his brief life, the prospect of physical death hung over his life as an unwelcome shroud. Yet death did not diminish his outlook on life. He acknowledged on one occasion, “We do not know what lies ahead, just over the hill. Terrible things are happening in our world…and we are afraid. But deep beneath our fear of life lies, carefully hidden, the real reason for our fear of these days. It is something we try to ignore. In the sunshine of life it seems so remote. The truth is we are afraid of death.”

Marshall acknowledged the venom that paralyzes our life – the fear of death. Did the prospect of death permeate his life with gloom? Apparently not. For he concluded, “The Christian should have no fear of death…But, on the contrary, faith should give him a touch of keen anticipation and a tingle of adventure as he looks forward to that experience that shall surely reward his hope and exceed his most glorious expectations.”

How could he radiate such a spirit? The key he revealed is that “It is only when we do know [Jesus] that we are not afraid, for there is nothing to fear.” When this fear is eradicated something marvelous happens in our life. He concluded, “Only when one is no longer afraid to die is one no longer afraid at all…If you are afraid of death, then you are afraid of life.”

A weakened heart that kept him on the threshold to the entrance of heaven did not diminish his zeal for life. Peter Marshall joined the Apostle Paul in recognizing that because of what Jesus had done, “Death is destroyed forever in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your pain? ...we thank God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Do not let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted” (1 Corinthians 15:54, 55, 57, 58 The Answer).

Entering this New Year certainly we face a lot of potential disasters that could generate fear. Some fearfully focus upon the Mayan calendar and conclude that this year the world will end on December 21, 2012. Others fearing NASSA’s observations of increased electromagnetic activity on the surface of the sun, conclude this might be a foreboding of a massive solar flare that will engulf the earth, either destroying it or creating some other deadly disaster. Many discuss the financial collapse of the world’s economy and project major social and political upheavals that will result in anarchy and death around the globe. The prospect of nuclear or biological terrorism has some in a fearful frenzy. Add to these fears one’s personal concerns regarding health conditions, relationship tensions, financial challenges, and other issues, and the fear factor escalates even further. Doing so causes many to say as they enter 2012, “This world is a scary place.” Such a perspective easily generates an almost phobic paralysis when it comes to living life.

However, once one comes to the realization that they don’t have to be afraid to die, then they won’t have to be afraid to live. This attitude emerges once a person realizes that the work of Christ on the cross is finished and that He has fully dealt with the penalty of our sin – “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Placing one’s faith in the work of Christ on their behalf can release a person from the tyranny of fear. This allows such a believer to say as the writer of Hebrews did, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (13:6).

Welcome to 2012! I trust that you have a blessed New Year and not a fearful one.

Christmas Is Amazing

The snow sifted down from a gray sky as my mother and I looked out the windows of the trolley station waiting for the Red Arrow to arrive. It was pretty exciting to take the trolley car to 69^th Street, the main shopping area in the western suburb of Philadelphia. In 1952 the term “shopping center” did not mean a mall, it referred to a region in the city or town where the commercial shops were clustered. We boarded the trolley for the trip that was just about 30 minutes long. In the brief time it took to get to our destination, the snow had intensified. When we got off the trolley there was already an inch of snow on the streets and sidewalks. For a four-year old this only added to the excitement of the Christmas shopping adventure. Christmas carols were playing outside the shops and department stores, and people bustled around the slushy sidewalks like folks on a mission. Display windows were filled with all sorts of merchandise to entice a person to enter and find the perfect present to give to that special person.

I recall how I was drawn to the department store windows that had model electric trains running through miniature villages with mechanical buildings and people dotted throughout the display. Such fascination caused me to become separated from my mother from time to time, and generated a response from my mother to hurry up so we could complete our shopping excursion. So, through the snow blown horizontal by a bitter wind, we trudged up the hill where the stores lined the streets to reach the one where Mom wanted to shop. Across from that department store was the Woolworth’s 5 and 10 cent store and the lunch counter where we always stopped. I knew this meant a grilled hot dog and a chocolate soda. That made the trip up the hill less of a chore, despite the fact that the snow was falling heavier and was getting deeper.

Outside Woolworth’s was a trio of Salvation Army folks ringing bells and playing brass instruments. They faithfully stood in the growing snow storm to receive donations in a red pot suspended from a black tripod. These people always fascinated me; and I was equally intrigued by the fact that those who made a donation received a colorful booklet that looked somewhat like a comic book. We passed them going into Woolworth’s for our lunch. While I ate my meal I asked Mom about these people. She told me that they were Christians who wanted to tell others about Jesus and his birth, and that they helped lots of people who did not have food and clothing. As we got ready to leave the lunch counter, I decided I wanted to give them some of the money I had brought to do my shopping. We passed by them and I put the money in the pot and kept walking. The lady ringing the bell stopped me and gave me the booklet and wished me a merry Christmas. I carefully tucked the booklet in my coat and we continued our Christmas shopping.

The day really did turn into an adventure. The storm had turned into a full scale blizzard. I am sure if the Weather Channel was around we would not have been caught off guard – then again maybe we would! We got back into the trolley and headed to Oakmont. At the trolley station we were greeted by drifts of snow that covered my knees and caused Mom to stuff old newspapers in her boots to keep the snow out. Roads were unplowed and impassable. A kind neighbor man on the same trolley carried me much of the way home as I could not navigate the drifts and Mom’s hands were full of her purchases. When we finally made it home we were wet and felt like frozen popsicles. Taking off my coat I felt the wet booklet I had been given. I began to cry because I thought it was ruined. Mom comforted me by saying she could put it on one of our cast iron radiators and dry it out. She promised me she would read it to me later in the evening.

Before bed Mom brought the now dried yet wrinkled booklet to my bedroom. There she read to me the story of Christmas and how Jesus, God’s Son, was born and placed in a manger. She showed me the pictures of shepherds and wise men. She read that Jesus came because God so loved the world and me that he gave His Son to come to earth so that people could have eternal life. I cannot remember if I had ever heard the story before. But I have never forgotten the amazing story she read that night huddled under my covers as the wind howled outside and snow and sleet pelted my window. To me it was amazing to think that God loved people so much that he gave His Son to come from heaven to a world like this.

For many years after that I would go to my closet as Christmas approached and retrieve that wrinkled Salvation Army booklet. I would read for myself the reason for Christmas and continue to be amazed. The last time I saw the booklet was when I went to college and cleaned out my closet. When I saw the wrinkled booklet I flipped through the pages and was again amazed at God’s great love. Now in my sixties, I do not have the booklet. I can read my Bible about the same account that I read in that booklet and I am still amazed. You never see Christmas the same once you realize how amazing it really is. How about reading in the Bible that amazing story for yourself as this Christmas season approaches (Luke 2:1-20 is one suggested passage)? Christmas is amazing!

What Is the Value of One Person?

What is the value of one person? I recently pondered that question on an early morning flight from Whitehorse in Yukon Territories, Canada. My wife and I had just finished ministering at a conference with a committed group of Christian workers and their families who are lovingly serving people in a sparsely populated area of the world. On takeoff the plane banked over the city of Whitehorse. The plane’s window revealed a tight cluster of lights poking into the surrounding darkness. This small city, which is the territorial capital of Yukon, has a population of about 23,000 – representing two-thirds of the entire population of Yukon. When Wikipedia describes Yukon as “sparsely populated” that is probably an overstatement. Imagine the remaining population of 9,000 spread over almost 186,272 square miles. Now that is “elbow room!”

At this conference I was privileged to serve people who are excited to be called by God to declare good news and hope to people in very isolated settings. The conference for these workers was held at a Christian camp located along Marsh Lake, the headwaters for the Yukon River. The camp was situated by a beautiful lakeside ringed by snow-clad mountains whose reflection fills the surface of the lake. It was a rustic camp – meaning outhouses, woodstoves for heat, and running water which involved running to the dining room for hot water hoping it did not cool too much on the hike back to the cabin in below-freezing temperatures. I suspect we were privileged to be in a cabin that had some electric heat because they feared we might burn a cabin down trying to stay warm.

One morning, while leaning my elbows on the table and cupping a mug of steaming coffee in my hands, I commented to one of the attendees that the camp was beautiful and somewhat rustic. He responded, “Welcome to my world!” Conditions at the camp evidently were what he and his family considered normal in their village of 250 people. In our conversation I discovered they faced challenging living conditions that included severe weather (i.e. lows as extreme as -50 degrees Fahrenheit), isolation (i.e. unable to see family and old friends for many months and even years at a time), financial challenges (i.e. declining exchange rates and support), the absence of creature comforts we take for granted (i.e. a trip to the mall or favorite fast food establishment), and working in communities that daily battle many social problems that would tax even the most experienced social worker, counselor, and mental health professional. Add to all of this the real spiritual war that goes on all over the world (Ephesians 6:10-17) and was very apparent in their community. I would be in this “environment” – which really was not bad at all – for a few days. What he encountered went on for years. Beginning to understand just a bit of the challenges he faced, I quizzed him as to why he was willing to face all of this. Paraphrasing his short answer, “I love God who called me here, and I love the people God has called me to love and serve.” He was focused not upon his circumstances. He was focused upon his calling.

Later I heard one Christian worker comment that recently a church that had supported him in his mission for a number of years decided that it was not worth supporting him and his family. This church concluded it was not cost effective to support them because there “just were not a lot of people in their area to reach.” I bristled a bit in my soul. How could they put so little value on a person who needed to have someone minister to their physical needs and eternal soul?

What would that church have thought of God and his servant, Philip, in Acts 8? He was ministering in a region where multitudes were responding to his ministry as their physical and spiritual needs were being met (8:4-8). God reflecting his love for the whole world (see John 3:16) then sovereignly moved Philip to the wilderness to minister to one man (Acts 8:26-40). If the church that stopped supporting this Christian worker in Yukon had lived in the days of the early church, would they have said God’s plan and Philip’s ministry in the wilderness was not cost effective? Perhaps, but they would have been wrong!

As the plane leveled off at 32,000 feet over the ice fields of Yukon, I prayed. I thanked God for the Christian workers I had met who saw people’s value the way God does. I thanked God that He valued people so much that he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, on a mission to planet earth to address their physical and spiritual needs. I thanked God that Jesus came and met my needs. The conditions Jesus faced were tough. The cost to Jesus was exorbitant – he died for people. Why did he do this? Because Jesus loved to do the Father’s will and loved the people to whom he was called to minister. He valued people. I then prayed that I will have that same perspective. I prayed that those who claim they are Christians would also see the value of people.

God so loved the world that He values people individually.

"Christian Commuting 101"

For the last thirty-three years I have enjoyed an easy commute to the church building. For the first fifteen of those years, I walked out my door and though a thick forest of towering poplar and oak trees that opened up at the church parking lot. From there I was afforded a vista of pastel sunrises. The colors seemed to accentuate the beauty of the many farms that stretched toward the horizon and framed by the elevated hills of Gap. For the last eighteen years I enjoyed a seven mile commute from the lovely historic Borough of Strasburg along a lightly traveled Route 741. I passed by seasonally changing fields and beautifully maintained farms. The end of my drive took me on winding forest-lined roads that carried me up the hills that lead to our church. It was a relaxing drive that refreshed my mind as I enjoyed the magnificent handiwork of God. Occasionally I would contrast my commute with a former drive to college that took me on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Expressway, often sarcastically referred to by daily commuters as “the world’s largest parking lot.” Actually the contrast was no contest – plowed fields vs. congested, polluted ribbons of concrete. I actually at times would say out loud in my car, “Lord, thanks for the great drive today.” Occasionally, in the middle of a winter snow storm, that praise was absent.

For the last number of weeks my commute has changed. Now as I get into my car and prepare for my 16.5 mile commute, I can almost hear an imaginary announcer bark, “Gentlemen start your engines.” Winding past a mile of suburban housing, opens to the entrance ramp of the Route 30 bypass. The rush hour traffic creates enough noise that I instinctively turn the radio up a notch. As I try to merge into the traffic filled with rumbling 18-wheelers, flying rocket motorcycles, and whizzing cars, trucks, and SUVs, I look for a gesture of kindness to let me enter the flood of traffic. Oh there are gestures, but I assure you they are not ones of kindness!

Having achieved a safe merger I flow with the traffic and breathe a sigh of relief. Then I begin to take on the character of the traffic of which I have become a part. Passing entrance ramps filled with people in cars facing the same dilemma I had experienced just moments earlier does not elicit mercy, just a little more pressure on the gas peddle. How quickly I had forgotten that moments earlier I had wanted kindness. Now I had become just as stingy with mercy and grace as those drivers I had complained about earlier. Perhaps the only difference between me and the drivers I had been criticizing is that I did not make the physical gestures they made! However, neither did I display the gesture of kindness I thought earlier should be a reasonable driver’s attitude.

How easy it is to graciously receive something and then become stingy in sharing it with others. Take forgiveness for an example. Jesus expects the forgiven to be forgivers. He tells a parable in Matthew 18:21-35 about a man who is forgiven by a king a huge debt he could not pay. The forgiven man promptly forgets the forgiveness he had received and displays an unforgiving spirit toward a person who owed him a much smaller debt. The master who had forgiven the man with the massive debt hears about the man’s ungracious conduct and asks the man, “Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” Jesus says in essence, “I expect the forgiven to be forgivers.”

On the cross of Calvary when Jesus shed his blood and died for my sins, he made it possible for me to be forgiven of all my sins – certainly a debt I could not pay. As a result I can have eternal fellowship with the God of the universe. Why then should I not follow his example of forgiveness in dealing with another sinner – of which we all are (Romans 3:23)? My offense against God was certainly greater than any offense that any person has done to me. Will I who have received mercy and grace refuse to dispense it to another? The Apostle Paul, who describes himself was “the chief of sinners” received mercy from God. What does he admonish the forgiven to do? He writes, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

How many human relationships would be repaired if Christians would forgive as they have been forgiven? How many family feuds would cease? How many marriages healed? How many children and parents would embrace one another? How many church conflicts would end? How many friends would again connect with one another? How transformed would our communities be if we treated others in a way we want to be treated?

I need to drive home now. May I “do unto others as I would have them do unto me” (Matthew 7:21). Sure, I’ll let them merge! Maybe this commuting thing will be getting better!

"Moving Is Annoying"

I am sure there are people who like to move. However, I am not sure I have even met someone with such a disposition. I certainly am not one of them. It is not so much the end result that bothers me as much as it is the process that you go through that annoys me. So right now I am in a state of being annoyed. I am moving. I am packing up to go to a retirement community.

People come up to me and boost my ego by saying, “You don’t seem old enough to be moving to ‘the home’.” Unfortunately the ego boost vaporizes when I realize their statement is more about my wife whose appearance and activities make me look younger – she looks like our daughter’s sister, and she is still actively involved in a career as a lacrosse official. A second dose of reality sets in when I realize in a few short years I won’t hear statements like that being made about me anymore!

I have moved 8 times in my life (4 times in the 1^st 4 years of our marriage), so you would think moving should not be such an irritation. What is it about moving that annoys me? Perhaps it is the sorting through stuff and coming to the realization that I have accumulated way more than I need and use. This move is from a house where we have lived the longest – about 18 years. It is amazing how much stuff one accumulates without even intending to do so. I have come across items that I did not even know I had. Worse yet, I have come across things in the attic that have left me wondering what they are, how they could possibly be used, and if they are really mine!

Another annoying thing is deciding about that which needs to be thrown away. I pick up an item I have chosen to discard and suddenly have an Antiques Road Show flash. I convince myself I would be foolish to discard this item that is probably worth a fortune. Then again, I struggle with how many aluminum coffee cans I “need” to keep to store things on shelves at our new house. Right now I probably have enough coffee cans to take to the recycling center for them to melt down to make a new car!

Sentimentality can be bothersome too. I come across pictures of the past that conjure up memories of summer vacations on the coast of Maine and portray our children about the same size of what our grandkids are today. We have collected so many scrap books that we would need to build a wing on our cottage to have enough bookcases to store them. We have our children’s arts and crafts projects, gifts they bought us for special occasions, letters they wrote while studying overseas that reveal lessons about life they were learning, and a host of other tangible treasures. I have come to the realization that such memories have to be mentally “downloaded” into the inner recesses of my heart to be recalled later in quiet times of refection and gratitude. I will manage to save a few choice tokens. After all, isn’t that what those plastic storage containers are for anyway?

I may be annoyed by moves, but they will occur anyway. So I might as well just brace myself and pack another box, make additional deposits in the dumpster, and make decisions about stuff that in the long run is not really the sum total or measure of my life anyway. So I guess I should just silently sing as I pack or whistle while I work, “Hi Ho, Hi, Ho another box to go!”

There is another move that I am certain will be coming up in the future. This move is not annoying to me in any way. This move is connected to a promise Jesus made to his disciples, to me, and to all who by faith have trusted in Christ as Savior. Shortly before his crucifixion and resurrection Jesus said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). I look forward to this “last move” that is good for all eternity. For one thing, I don’t have to pack! When Jesus comes for me, either through death or a divine departure, I do not need to take a thing with me. In fact, all the “stuff” I have been shuffling around all these years will be of no consequence (see Luke 12:16-20). He will not only provide a place for me, but all that I need for that place. I don’t need earthly “stuff” to dwell in a heavenly place (see Revelation 21), because I will have put off that which is mortal and put on that which is immortal (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

The greatest thing about the “great last move” is who will be there. My faith will finally become sight as I will see and be in the presence of Jesus, the one who loved me so much he died for me. I will also see family members I have never seen because they made their “final move” before I was born. I have heard of their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. I am assured we will have an eternal meeting. I will also be reunited with those I have known who are fellow believers. What a reunion (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)!

Perhaps when I see moving from a bigger, eternal perspective I am not so annoyed after all!