Have you ever played that game that a lot of groups play when they are together to get to know each other better: "What three things would you take with you if you were alone on an island?" I always have a hard time with that one. As a Christian, people often say the good old fallback: a Bible. Yeah, that would be good! As a worldly person with worldly needs, you might say "Toilet paper!" That's good for a few laughs. Survivalists would want something to catch fish with, or an unlimited supply of MREs, or a huge box of flares.
I ran across an interesting question today. What would you take if you could take two things with you to heaven?
The lifelong Christian in me says, "Well... nothing really." A Bible? Well, if that's the Word of God, and I'm going to heaven to actually be with God, that's not exactly a necessity is it? Before I go off on people (my family, of course), they are not things. Ultimately, there's nothing really worth taking, nothing that would be of any real use in heaven anyway that I have now.
So... nothing! There are not two things I have that are even worth having there.
The point of that question to me is to put into stark reality how out-of-whack my priorities are here. Why do I need things? If I don't care to take any thing with me, why do I spend a whit of my time worrying about any thing I own or don't own?
Seriously, as the sermon went that I heard once, "It all goes back in the box!" On earth, even I will go there eventually, provided Jesus doesn't come first.
There's another thought. What are His priorities?
As I read through Matthew 24 and Mark 13, everything boils down to that priority: people. Satan cannot deceive stuff. He can deceive people. And the whole gist of that story is how people will treat each other, how people will be deceived, but most importantly how people will be saved from deception.
Jesus' priority comes into clear focus in Matthew 24:14 -- "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." You don't preach to stuff. You preach to people. Why hasn't He come yet? Because there are people who haven't yet heard the gospel of the kingdom.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
I've always struggled a bit with the thought that some have, that we can speed up the Lord's coming. There's a couple ways to look at this. If He hasn't come yet, it's because the house is not ready yet. You get this idea from the Jewish concept of weddings, where after a groom's proposal has been accepted, he goes to his home and builds a room onto the family house for he and his bride to live in. When it's finished, he goes and gets his bride.
But there's a switch that happens in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. The bride isn't fully ready either! Somehow the bride of Christ hasn't reached her full potential yet, and there are more people to add to her before she's ready! The whole world has to have the opportunity to be a part of her. Could it be that the groom (Christ) will not finish the new place in heaven for his bride until the bride is ready to be brought home? Until the groom knows just how to build the new home for his bride, inclusive of all who will accept His proposal?
Apparently, there are still people who haven't heard! Apparently, even as we say "Come, Lord Jesus," He's saying, "But what about the people in __________. Don't they deserve the same chance you received to say 'yes' to Me?"
What a compassionate God we serve! Now, if I believe in that compassion, do I believe just as much in continuing to beautify the bride as He does and add to her?
It isn't about if I know what to say. It's about going to that person who needs to hear and trusting the God who gives the right words in due season. It isn't about whether I have a "gift of evangelism" that is verified by a questionnaire. It's about whether I'm willing to allow Holy Spirit to pour that gift into me in the same due season.
It's never about stuff, my fear, or giftedness. It's about people and God's power.
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