Reluctant Retiree

What are the best seats that you ever had? Once I had a seat on the dais with Coach Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys and with Billy Graham in front of a packed convention center audience. Another time I had a seat in the Columbia Broadcasting suite right behind home plate at Yankee Stadium. I don’t say that to boast, as I had very little to do with acquiring either of these seats. The first seat was given to me as part of a large group. The second seat was given to me by friend who knew somebody with CBS. I didn’t earn my place at either event. They were great seats though.

God has prepared an even better seat for me. Again I did not earn this honor. It is completely given to me by His grace in kindness. Ephesians 2:6-7 says, “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Jesus Christ has prepared a place for me, and all who trust Him, at the feast in Heaven. We will be seated at His table with Him. Then He will show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindnesses toward us. What a seat! What a show! What grace!

Enough is enough! I don’t know about you, but I am so tired of politics. Instead of explaining issues, all we hear are criticism of others and demonization of the opposition. That kind of talk, and that level of negativity does not win my vote.

God did not create us to behave like that. God is love and expects us to love one another. Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Imagine that. While we were rejecting Him and going our own way, God still loved us enough to sacrifice His own Son so that we may live. Jesus willingly gave up His life to make a way for us to know and share in the love of God.

I John 4:11-12 says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Let’s put away all this anger toward others. Let’s accept God’s love for us and ask Him to love others through us. Let’s put aside hostility and magnify love. Love will put an end to senseless killings, open hostility, and shameless selfishness.

This morning we worked as volunteers at a home for women coming out of addiction. One woman told us her story. After surviving a car accident that took the life of her father, she struggled to find her place in life, all the while battling loneliness and depression. She confessed that she looked in all the wrong places to find the love denied her by her father’s death. She had children out of wedlock and could not support them or properly care for them. She became increasingly dependent on drugs and was constantly in and out of jail. All the while she knew that she needed God to redeem her. Finally she was desperate enough to own her need for a Redeemer and gave her life to Jesus Christ. She claims to be a brand new person, completely different from her old self.

I think we all find a little bit of ourselves in a story like that of this young woman. We are all trying to fill the holes left buried within us by the circumstances of our lives. We all have basic needs that have gone unmet and leave us struggling to find wholeness. Unfortunately we don’t recognize that we cannot fix these problems on our own, and our efforts just drive us further away from redemption.

Romans 3:23-25 says, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” The dictionary defines redemption as the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt. God has made a way for our redemption. The sacrifice and blood of His Son is the act of God’s mercy and grace to make us whole, filling what is missing within us. Sin made the hole by driving us away from God to go our own way. The blood of Jesus Christ redeems us from death to life, from darkness to light, from our old self to new life, and from slavery in sin to freedom in Christ.

But God’s gift of redemption must be received to be activated. Don’t wait another minute to receive the redemption you are looking for and desperately need.

At my advanced age I can easily see that I am not as strong as I used to be. My mind says that I can do it. After all, I have done it before. But my body understands that I have increased limitations. Even though I work out, I am just not as strong as I think that I am. It is simply a fact of the aging process.

God’s strength, on the other hand, never diminishes. The power that God displayed at creation is the same power that He wields today. Nothing is impossible for Him. This truth is one of the reasons why we can trust Him. Whatever needs we might have, He can supply. Whatever troubles we face, He will overcome. Whatever wisdom we might require, He surely possesses and will provide.

Psalm 31:23-24 says, “Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” The person who faithfully loves the Lord can courageous and strong, knowing that God will preserve him. But the one who rejects the Lord in his own pride will be repaid for his offenses against God.

People are said to be aglow at various times. A mother’s and father’s face is said to be shining with love and pride as they gaze upon their newborn child. The groom’s face is aglow as he beholds his beautiful bride walk down the aisle to him. A pregnant woman is said to glow in anticipation of the coming birth of her child. Children’s faces glow at Christmas time, knowing that they will receive gifts.

The Bible says that God’s face shines when He looks upon His children. Psalm 67:1 says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us.” God’s face shines the glow of the proud parent, the anticipatory child and expectant mother, and the awaiting groom. Those who trust in Him are called the children of God. We are His beloved children and He is pleased when we walk with Him.