''You
have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his
requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now
we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those
who challenge God escape.'' Malachi
3:14-15
Dear
Friends,
Is it all worth it? Being a Christian I mean. Is it all worth it?
Just think about it. To be a follower of Jesus Christ requires a great
deal of sacrifice. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart
and soul and mind and you must love your neighbor as yourself. That is
just the opposite of what we do best and what we like to do the most -
which is to love ourselves with all our heart and to compete against our
neighbor and try to get one up on him.
Is it worth it to be a Christian? We're not free to hate who we want to
hate. We've got to love - even our enemies. We're not allowed to
take whatever we want, our first thought has always got to be what we can give
- even to those who don't deserve it in our humble opinion. We're even
robbed of the pleasure that comes from holding a grudge. We've got to forgive
and forget. Is it worth it?
One last question. When that alarm goes off on Sunday morning, the only
day we get to relax, and we've got to get the kids ready to get to church, how
many times have we asked ourselves, is it worth it?
Through the mouth of His prophet Malachi, the Lord echoes, if not the words of
our mouth, certainly the thoughts of our hearts. "You have said,
'it is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his
requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But
now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper and
even those who challenge God escape." (Mal. 3:14-15).
An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years, and they were
returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension; their
health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged and afraid.
They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy
Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big game hunting expeditions.
No one paid any attention to them. All the fanfare was around the
President's entourage. As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary
said to his wife, "Something is wrong here. Why should we have
given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and
have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a
hunting trip and everybody makes a big fuss over him, but nobody give two
hoots about us."
"Dear,
you shouldn't feel that way," his wife said. "I can't help it;
it doesn't seem right." When the ship docked in New York, a band
was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were
there. The papers were full of the President arrival, but no one noticed
this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat
on the East side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a
living in the city. That night the man's spirit broke. He said to
his wife, "I can't take this; God is not treating us fairly."
His wife replied, "Why don't you go in the bedroom and tell that to the
Lord?" A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face
was completely different. His wife asked, "Dear what
happened?" "The Lord settled it with me," he said.
"I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this
tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when
I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and
simply said, 'But you're not home yet."
Yes there is a reward for faithfulness. And yes it will all be worth it.
But the reward is not given here because this world is not big enough to hold
it. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him." (1Cor.2:9).
The reward that we await is the reward of eternal life in heaven at the feet
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has gone there to prepare a place for
us. No reward this side of heaven is adequate enough for those who
follow Jesus Christ. And so we must wait until get "home" to
receive it. We must wait for the Lord to bring it.
For now however, the wheat and the weeds grow up together in the same field.
For now, the sheep and the goats live together, and at times we wonder if the
Lord knows one from the other because often its the goats who seem to be
getting the better of it. Yet Jesus says, "When the Son of
Man comes in his glory... All the nations will be gathered before Him and He
will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you
who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom
prepared for you since the creation of the world." (Mat. 25:31-34.)
The one who follows Jesus Christ lives with a constant tension in their life.
It's the tension between the "now" and the "later."
As Jaroslav Vajda says so well in his hymn: “Now, the silence - then the
glory. Now the hearing - then the new creation singing. Now the
Spirit's visitation - then the Spirit's harvest gathered.
Now the Father's blessing - then the Father's Amen.”
Yours
in Christ,
Pastor Nielsen
