|
My Two Cents
by Rev Chuck Behrens
November, 2015
|
Past Articles |
|
We'll have Pilgrims on our
table on Thanksgiving. Nice ceramic Pilgrims. They won't eat. We'll also
have pilgrims at our table. Living, breathing pilgrims. And, man, will
they eat!
We're all pilgrims, whether we know it or not. No, not the kind that wear
black hats, white bonnets or big buckles. But the kind William Bradford,
the gover-nor of the Plymouth colony, wrote about.
As the intrepid Mayflower travelers were preparing to leave England and
head into the unknown, Bradford wrote about what was in their hearts.
"They knew they were pilgrims, and looked not so much on these things, but
lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted
their spirits."
They knew they were pilgrims. When you know that's who you are, it changes
everything. Centuries before Plymouth, Simon Peter wrote to some
first-generation Christians whose faith had cost them their homes and
would ulti-mately cost some their lives. He called them "dear
friends...temporary resi-dents and foreigners" (1 Peter 2:11 ). In other
words - as a classic old hymn says, "This world is not my home, I'm just
a-passing through."
Too often, I forget where Home is. It's not this cosmic tennis ball we
live on. This is just Hotel Earth. I stay in lots of hotels. But even if
I'm staying for an extended time, I don't call a moving company to bring
all my furniture. It's only a hotel . Why would I pile everything into a
place that's only where I'm staying for a little while? It isn't Home. God
says, "Our citizenship is in heav-en. And we eagerly await a Savior from
there, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20 ).
So what? Well, I ought to be living here for what's going to matter there!
Like doing whatever I have to do to tell people I know about my Jesus - so
they can be there with us some day. And intentionally building a heart for
Jesus into my children and grandchildren. And divesting my earth-stuff to
invest in lives and causes that will last a hundred million years and
beyond. And stuff-ing my stubborn self-will to be "filled with the
knowledge of His will" (Colossians 1:9 ).
I have never stood where those Mayflower Pilgrims buried half of their
loved ones in their first months in this new land. But I can recall all
they left and all they lost. But as Bradford writes, "They committed
themselves to the will of God resolved to proceed." Because they knew this
was all temporary. They held all they had - and even those they loved -
loosely, knowing that they would all eventually be Home. When you know
you're just a pilgrim, you can have nothing and still have everything that
matters.
Thanksgiving seems like just the right time to look at what I have and say
out loud, "Earth stuff. Just earth stuff." To say thank you to God for
those bless-ings - while loosening my grip on them to let God do whatever
He wants with them. To be willing to leave where I'm comfortable to go
wherever He leads. Even if it's a little ship, a big ocean and an unknown
destination.
Don’t wait to have a Happy Thanksgiving on November 26. begin Celebrating;
giving Thanks now and then literally, intentionally, forget to stop.
See you in Church,
Rev. Chuck
|
|
