What Are You Waiting For? Open It!

Imagine that it’s your 10^th birthday.  This one is especially important because you’ve been told every day since you can remember that on your TENTH birthday, you’ll receive the most special gift you’ll ever get.  The day has arrived, and after you’ve bounded down the stairs and glance around the house, you spy it!  Just as promised, the most beautifully wrapped gift you’ve ever seen is waiting on the dining table, and it has your name on it.  You inspect the outside of the gift and marvel at the skill and quality of the wrapping paper.  The ribbon is exquisite!  This MUST be the most marvelous gift ever!  And when you take the hand-lettered tag in your small hands, you open it to reveal these words: “Not to be opened until your 21^st birthday.”

What wretched hoax is this?!  How can it be that something you’ve waited for so long can’t be fully appreciated until…YEARS from now?!  This can’t be right!  This “gift” in the box that was going to make you the envy of everyone you know can’t be fully appreciated until you’ve reached old age!  Not fair!  Whose idea was this anyway?

OK – stop imagining now.  We can all empathize with the poor child who expected something life-changing but only got the promise of such.  This is where I need your full attention – if you are a follower of Jesus, I fear you have experienced the same kind of “delayed gratification” as our 10-year old in the story.  Too often, we come to faith in Christ, and are thrilled to receive salvation – our beautiful gift – and assume we must delay opening it until we die and finally receive what God has prepared for us.  How sad for us.  After all, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  (John 10:10)

Let me be clear: if you are not a follower of Christ, the “Good News” message to you is that, though you are separated from God by your sin (and we ALL are), God Himself made a way for you to be reconciled to Him.  Jesus came to live and die and be resurrected for each of us, but we must acknowledge our need and submit ourselves to the life-giving Savior.  Paul summed it up when he wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel (Good News) of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” 

But Jesus came – by His own words – to give us more than just eternal life in heaven.  He intended for us to live as participants in the Kingdom of Heaven NOW!  In Matthew 4, Jesus said, “Repent!  For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”  And the next time Matthew records that Jesus preached, He taught us what living in the Kingdom of Heaven looks like.  He told us what was IN THE GIFT!  You would do well to read the whole passage in Matthew 5-7, but let me summarize some of the things Jesus told us we should be experiencing as followers of His.  These are the ways others will know we follow Him and these are the ways He makes our lives abundant NOW:

We are meek and merciful; seeking after the things that are righteous and pure.  We build bridges instead of tearing them down.  We love instead of despising; we bless others even when we are harmed by them.  We make such a difference in people’s lives that they honor God because of it.  How are you doing with all that?

We don’t act “righteous” on the outside, while allowing ourselves to harbor wrong feelings inside.  We do what we say we will do, even if it’s difficult.  We always “go above and beyond” in our dealings with others, including those who seek to take advantage of us.  We trust God to take care of us, and we know that He can even settle accounts for us.  We don’t need to condemn others for their behavior – that’s HIS job if they deserve it.  We just love them and live in such a way that they want to know why we are like we are!  And then WE get to share OUR Good News with THEM.  Are you still doing OK?

The Gospel is our invitation to eternal life.  But aren’t you grateful you don’t have to wait until you die to enjoy the gift?  When we come to faith, we admit, “Jesus, I don’t have any way to make up for my sin except to trust You to do it for me.”  And in response, Jesus says, “I’ll take care of that.  And by the way, I have a gift for you.  But don’t wait to open it, because you’ll enjoy it much more if you open it NOW!”  What a great idea! 

Jacob