FALLING IN LINE WITH JESUS
Diane and I went to the HomeGoods Store a couple of days ago. Good grief, you would think Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin were running the store. I mean, already stores are putting out Halloween decorations. Doesn’t matter what you think of Halloween; it’s just that here we are not quite done with summer and already we’re getting ready for the fall. Not that I would like a replay of the past eight months, but life just seems to be flying by at dizzying pace. Years ago, one of my seminary professors told our class that he thought the reason time seems to fly faster as we age is because God is getting us ready for heaven where a thousand years are like a day. I’m not sure whether we can support that theologically, but it’s a nice thought. Seriously, as we’re nearing the fall, I am reminded of what the Psalmist wrote: “The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. . . . So, teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:10-12). As persons of Senior Citizen rank, we should all be asking ourselves, “What does that wisdom consist of?” The answer, of course, begins with establishing a friendship with God. His friendship has a price and that price, fortunately for us, was paid for upon the cross by Jesus Christ. That friendship is free to us for the asking—a gift of grace that is impossible for us to earn—only embraced by faith. Second, the Psalmist’s counsel should lead us to recognize that we are a workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10). And God has had plans for our service since before creation. What can you do. Find what you enjoy and do it with all your heart for the service of God’s kingdom. Understand, you are a representative of His kingdom. So, look around and ask yourself: “What would Jesus be doing in my neighborhood and for my neighbors, were He here?” Then do what He would do. Finally, whatever, you do, do it to the glory of God. That means God gets the credit. We are just the delivery boys or girls. A man was rushing through the airport one day when he bumped a little girl and spilled her purse all over the ground. Rather than keep running he stopped, stooped down, and began helping her gather up her belongings. The little girl looked at him and asked, “Mister, are you Jesus?” Wouldn’t it be great if our neighbors asked us the same question?
Pastor Mike
