Reluctant Retiree

Our God is a God who eagerly desires that His people draw near to Him. A name given to Jesus at His birth was Immanuel, which means “God with us”. Jesus came to dwell amongst us and experience all that we do. Our God is exalted and enthroned on high, but He is also near to us.

Luke 19:37-38 says, “As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'” The crowd only had this one opportunity to be close to Jesus. We have the awesome opportunity to draw near to God daily. This should cause us to rejoice and fill the earth with praises of God.

I have always wanted to go into a major league dugout during a game. I have been in some of those dugouts during stadium tours, but never during a game. Why? Because I have never been invited. I would guess that we all have some place that we would love to enter, but have never been invited into, so we remain outside.

Those who trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have an invitation to the place of greatest honor. We are invited to come before the throne of Almighty God. And we can enter His presence boldly with confidence. Not because we are worthy of such honor, but rather because of who goes with us. Jesus Himself will go with His brothers and sisters. Beyond that, Jesus will even speak to the Father on our behalf as both our advocate and intercessor. So those of you who trust in Jesus, go boldly before the throne of God and let Jesus make your requests known to the Father.

Ephesians 3:11-12 says, “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

If I am driving down the highway and another driver dangerously cuts me off, I am usually forgiving and let his actions slide. If the same driver does it again, I probably begin to get a bit anxious. If he continues to do this, I will likely become angry.

Fortunately, God does not have a short fuse like me. I don’t know about you, but I sin many times a day. By that I mean that I choose to do what I want to do over what I know that God wants me to do. That is sin! God could strike me down immediately to punish my insolence and disobedience. But He has provided forgiveness for our sins through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Since I have accepted and believed in His gift of salvation, God chooses to show mercy to me. He is rich in mercy and does not limit His forgiveness toward me.

Luke 17:3-4 says, “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Just as God does not limit His forgiveness toward those who trust Him, we should not limit our forgiveness for the sins of others, even if those sins are committed against us. We must grant mercy, as receivers of God’s mercy.

We develop people in many areas of life. We help our children mature by giving them increased freedom and responsibilities as they grow older. We do the same sort of thing in business as we give employees greater responsibilities as they show that they have handled other job functions well. On the other hand, if someone misuses the freedom and responsibilities that we have granted, we tend not to trust them as much in the future until they can prove themselves.

In Luke 16:10 Jesus is quoted as saying, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” God understands this principle at least as well as we do. We must faithfully use the gifts He has given us, if we are to enjoy even greater gifts from Him. We should give our best efforts in everything that we are given to do. Anything less is dishonest and dishonoring to ourselves and to God.