The Final Criterion ...

Who you are matters.  Not who you know.  Not what you know.  But who you are in the core of your character, does matter.  Modern Christian churches tend to get this entirely wrong.  They focus on what they can teach you.  The idea is that if you find out enough knowledge, some of it is bound to rub off on you, and perhaps you might become a better person than when you started.  That idea may even have some merit.  But what if who you are is essentially the same as who you were; only after all this education, you have a better understanding of doctrines.  If you think it has never happened before, just spend some time reading about the Pharisees in the time of Christ.  They had immense knowledge of the scriptures, spent nearly every day debating and trying to increase that knowledge.  But it did not change “who” they were.  And when Christ came, they refused to recognize Him.  Why?  Because Jesus was obsessed with loving others, especially those in need.  The Pharisees were more comfortable with a “caste” system where the people in great need were largely ostracized (you know, in order to keep the church pure).

And speaking of the “church”, it can’t save you either.  The Pharisees went to church obsessively.  They had a special temple building that was specifically authorized for this purpose.  They had many rituals designed to point them to the Messiah, ALL of which they followed for public viewing.  They sang all the hymns.  They wrote a few new ones.  They washed themselves up and were “clean” all the time.  Their clothing was “temple proscribed”.  It was conservative (as nearly as conservative as clothing gets).  Their family lives were very regimented with each member of the family knowing their “place”.  Wives and daughters did household chores and only those.  Sons were meant to carry on tradition and were educated thoroughly from an early age.  For our conservative brothers and sisters who think that modern society has gone down hill because we let our standards erode – the Pharisees had the best lock on standards there will ever be, and yet – they missed the Messiah entirely.  Rather, they chose to kill the Messiah rather than adopt another way of doing things.

So what about doctrine?  True doctrine is supposed to point you to Jesus.  If it works, that should lead you to submission and transformation of who you are.  But how many doctrines are really setup for that purpose?  Instead doctrines have become the central pillars that divide one church from another based on what is now called “belief”.  All modern Christian churches believe in Jesus, and yet every distinct denomination is somehow divided over the doctrines they teach.  Again noting the irony of doctrines being supposed to point you to Jesus, yet churches divide over them incessantly.  But let’s assume for the moment that your brand of Christianity (that is your particular denomination or unique set of beliefs) is 100% right, and everyone else is 100% wrong.  What then?  Does holding all the right doctrines to be true, make you a different person on the inside?  To the point, does it change who you are so completely, that you become just like Jesus (hard to tell you apart)?  If not, why?  All that truth must be good for something right.  But then, knowing “about” Jesus, and knowing “about” the Bible, only makes you a good student – not a different person.  To “be” a different person all you need is Jesus (and nothing else will do).

So what kind of person are you supposed to be?  That would be the $64,000 question.  And of course, Jesus left us the answer.  Matthew in his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries records the words of Jesus Himself on this topic in chapter 25.  Jesus once again transitions the context from prior scriptures, beginning with the signs and wonders, moving to the conditions, moving again to the work or mission, and now to a final judgment scene that most conservative Christians love the idea of.  The last topic Jesus will address is what happens at His second coming (whether at the outset of it, or at the end of it – time is a little fuzzy in this one).  But there is very clear a division of people into two camps.  The saved, and the not saved.  This makes all of us nervous.  And it should.  The selfishness in the roots of who we are, dictates a lot of bad outcomes.  But this story has a twist, in fact a number of them.

It begins with Jesus speaking in verse 31 saying … “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:”  This is the second coming of Jesus.  No longer a humble baby laying in a manger for Herod to plot to destroy.  He is now beyond the reach of plotting Pharisees who want to see Him dead because He will simply not accept their version of the doctrines of truth they believe are beyond dispute.  This is a different picture of the same Jesus, and He is back.  This is not the sign for the atheists to finally accept the ridiculous ideas of a spaghetti monster as opposed to a tangible Son of God who is now here in front of them with all His holy angels (a number likely too large for us to guess at now).  And He brings with Him a throne, that is meant only for Him to sit upon.  This is the revelation of Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He does not bow to our money or wealth.  He does not humble Himself to our leaders, for He is the ultimate leader of all time.  The glory of this is beyond our imagination today.  Yet Jesus gives us this small glimpse to get our heads in the right train of thought.

He continues in verse 32 saying … “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: [verse 33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”  Our ultimate shepherd dividing His flocks is something we can kind of understand.  But does He mean His right, or our right?  And does He mean His left hand, or does He me the hand we see on the left from our perspective?  But that’s the thing about sheep, they just do what they are told.  They do not need to understand it.  They just do it.  This is a subtlety we sometimes miss.  Everyone here in this crowd thinks they are the same.  We ALL believe Jesus has come to take US home.  We ALL believe we are His sheep.  Nobody is looking around making accusations.  We’re just ALL happy.  But despite what we think of ourselves, there is a division going on, none the less. And we the sheep and goats are more or less oblivious to it.  Keep in mind two ambitious disciples had asked that when Jesus came into His kingdom that one might be placed at the right hand of Jesus, and one at the left.

Jesus continues in verse 34 saying … “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: [verse 35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: [verse 36] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”  The group on the right has made it in to the Kingdom.  Why?  Keep in mind the above set of activities is NOT a definitive list, it is a set of examples.  What drives the behavior above is a core love of others that has become a part of “who” we are.  There is no check list of this stuff.  There is a driving motivation that pushes always into these kinds of behaviors for others, because we genuinely love them.  This set of examples is evidence of a full transformation of the heart and mind.  You leave behind the person you are today (one obsessed with self), and you are re-created into the very image of Jesus Christ by the power of His transformative love you choose to submit to.  The Holy Spirit acts as the mechanism.  And the result is a different kind of sheep.

Now again, I must call attention to the obvious (sorry).  Where is doctrine listed in the above set of final criterion?  Where is our understand of scripture cited, or our perfect knowledge of prophecy tested?  For that matter, where is something as basic as the Ten Commandments examined?  The above set of actions are examples of you loving others (which should be an embodiment of both doctrine and the Ten Commandments) – because it brings you into harmony with God.  But the goal post Jesus lays out is not whether you have kept all ten or any one of the Commandments properly, or whether you broke one tenant of the Law.  He does not have to.  Perfect love of others brings you into perfect harmony with the Law, until the Law is not something you even think about anymore, it is just a basic proscription for how to love others, that you would not think of badly.  You already love God, because loving Jesus is how your transformation began, continued, and finally concluded.  You already love others, so what “not” to do is only a beginning for you.  You have been spending your thoughts on what “to do”.  The above list Christ cited are examples of that thinking.

For some traditionalists, they believe you would gain entry into heaven or not, based on how perfectly “you” kept each commandment.  Sorry guys, that is not enough.  Jesus does not divide sheep from goats based on how many people learned not to steal, or lust, or covet, or commit adultery.  Jesus does not even look at His flock and divide it based on how many people broke the Sabbath, treated it badly, wasted their special day with Him, or worse yet; refused to worship on His day made holy at creation, choosing rather to worship on their own day.  THAT is not the criterion by which Jesus divides the flock.  Treating the time with Jesus how it deserves, cannot be accomplished, until we are brought into harmony with His Laws.  While His Laws are a burden to us, our hearts reflect our lack of transformation.  Once we allow Him to change “who” we are, how we see His special time with us changes, and only then can perfect obedience be found in us.  The Law never goes away.  Our perspective of the Law changes from burden to automatic as we are transformed into harmony with it.  Attempting to keep the Law, without transformation is nothing more than vanity.

Lastly, again notice it is not the brand of sheep that gets you into His Kingdom.  It is not “your” particular brand of Christian that is the final criterion.  Catholics are going to have to share the Kingdom with Protestants, and Mormons, and people of no brand at all.  The criterion laid out appears to be acts of loving Jesus Himself, not of belonging to a particular sect of Christianity.  It is not that only white sheep made it in (representing your faith), and reluctantly spotted sheep (people near your ideas), and from a state of grace black sheep (ones who were complete rebels, but somehow found His grace).  Color or sect or creed was not the deciding factors.  Loving Jesus was (and is).  A tangible demonstration of the first four Commandments, or a tangible demonstration of a relationship with Jesus Himself.  Either or both are true.  Loving Jesus, it would appear, is found in how we love – period.  And it is not found in turning that love inward, but in turning that love outwards to those in need (as this list would imply).

Jesus continues in verse 37 saying … “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? [verse 38] When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? [verse 39] Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? [verse 40] And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  And here is another evidence of transformation – it is something you do not focus on – it is something happening to you without your knowledge, but within your motives.  The transformed sheep are simply different.  They love others because it is “who” they have been made to become.  As they look at the face of Jesus, they do not remember ever providing such loving acts to Him personally.  Yet Jesus says to them, when you did it “unto the least of these”.  Not to popes or presidents, or Bill Gates.  Not when your actions were designed for credit, or check marks in heaven.  But when your acts of charity and love were done because your heart bubbles over with charity and love.  Notice too, the “least of these” are also in the flock now, perhaps in part, because of your tangible love for them.

The sheep who gain entry into His Kingdom are like two-year-olds, unaware of their state of being, unaware they are the saved of this flock.  They do for others, without the knowledge of being saved, but because it is who they have become.  Think of that.  If it were possible these sheep could be lost (it’s not), they would be going to hell with kindness and love for others as their primary driving motivation.  They lived the way they do, because Jesus re-made them this way.  It is not something they did for themselves, or in partnership with God.  It is something Jesus does for us all, as we submit who we are to Him in the here and now.  He remakes us in the here and now.  And before long, a passion for others begins to develop in you, you cannot explain.  It brings tears to your eyes unexpectedly.  It brings joy to your heart from things you would not even have noticed before.  It is the new you, beginning to learn how to love like God loves, shedding the scales of your self-love behind.  It starts now, and going to heaven merely extends it.

Jesus continues in verse 41 saying … “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: [verse 42] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: [verse 43] I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.”  Pay careful attention to the reasons Jesus cites for this group NOT getting into heaven.  Examples of NOT loving others, therefore of being untransformed.  It is NO particular sin that keeps them out.  They are forgiven too, of the bad things they have done.  It is NOT the breaking of the law, or the misinterpretation of scripture that is keeping them out.  It is because they are NOT different people, they are the same at the core of who they are.  Forgiven, but not different inside.  And it shows.

The untransformed heart is all too happy to shower itself with the love of God, never thinking for a moment to share that love with others (perhaps outside of the inner circle of people we say we care about).  We care about very few, and are blindingly apathetic to those outside of our circles.  Even within our circle of people we are supposed to love, our love for them is far from perfect.  Often we choose what is convenient or easy for us, less so for them.  Sacrifice for others is seen as sacrifice (not as joy).  Giving to others is done in moderation (never completely, that would not make sense).  We strive to be “good” Christians (or worse), good people.  We tell ourselves we have achieved our goal of being a “basically” good person.  We tell ourselves that our sins do not matter, because they have been forgiven.  We treat His grace like a diaper we can relieve ourselves upon.  Never looking for an escape from our sins, only an excuse to remain in them.  Our thoughts are filled continually with a reflection of our motives, chief among them is love of self.

And it gets worse.  We too are unaware of our state of being.  Those goats, or active Christians involved in the church, hide our true condition by “working” in the ministry.  We may be the ones preaching, or planning, or helping out in church.  We make a fuss about attending events where the homeless are helped, or houses are built.  We consider these “events” as proof of our love of others (after all, we can point to a dozen of our neighbors who make no such attempt).  We give our means to ministry and again use this as proof of our love of others (pointing to others who make no such gifts, or who are unable to give as much as we).  And all of our “proof”, is proof of something else – an untransformed heart that looks for credit and reputation, not for anonymity.  When confronted with those in need, we pass by, because there is no “event” in it.  We do not make a habit of helping, only special events of helping.  We are quite comfortable leaving the least of these right where they are.  And there is no guilt in us, because who we are, is not someone who burns with the love of Jesus in us, only the love of self.  Our “good” hearts have never tasted of His transformation.  And so our lack of love for Jesus shows.  It is evident.

Jesus continues in verse 44 saying … “Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? [verse 45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. [verse 46] And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”  These goats are unaware they are goats.  And they too looking at the face of Jesus for the first time, realize they have never met Him before.  So they offer in their own defense, not repentance, but a statement of facts.  We never saw you, so how could we ever help you?  But the “least of these” who are in the flock today are present.  And they were ignored here by the goats who had no time for them outside of scheduled events or charitable donation.  The evidence is in front of them even if now it has been cleaned up significantly at this event.

What cannot be cleaned is the hearts still inside the goats.  It is too late for that.  They have steadfastly rejected transformation when it was offered.  They believed salvation was something “they” could achieve by their own good works, or asking for forgiveness (never a real change), or helping out in church.  They believed themselves “good” when Jesus looks at them they are far from the “good” the universe demands going forward.  Lucifer thought himself good too.  And while he loved others in harmony with the Law he was.  It was when he started loving self that is when Satan emerged.  These goats have known not much more than loving self in their own lives.  They have long evidence of it.  And the irony is that they may have perfect understanding of doctrine.  They may be able to recite a perfect understanding of all prophecy ever recorded.  They may be pastors, or ministers, or elders, or deaconesses.  They may go to church regularly.  They may do everything they thought they were supposed to do.  But they do not really love Jesus.  They mostly love themselves and bringing pleasure to themselves.

It is only in our submission that we find His ability to transform who we are into who He envisions we can become.  That means we turn over to Him our decisions (large and small).  That means we turn over our hearts and passions (for Him to remake, revise, or amplify as He sees fit).  Submission is about wanting to get rid of “who” we are, and trusting that what He will re-create us into, is the best thing we would ever really want.  It is a radical change of who we are.  It will radically disrupt everything about us.  And it will always be the best thing for us.  The evidence of this transformation will be found in the passion we have for loving others.  When we cannot keep still, when we cannot sleep away our time, when we must help that person in need – we are beginning to see them like God sees them.  That is what sheep look like.  You probably already know what goats look like (I do anyway).  But I continue to try to learn what submission means, and how much more of it I can learn to adopt.  Join me in that quest, and learn what Jesus has in store for you.

This concluded the answers of Jesus as to what to look for before the destruction of the Temple, and His second coming from signs, to conditions, to mission, to the final criterion.

 

The Schindler Moment ...

If you haven’t guessed yet, one of my favorite movies of all time is Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”.  There are too many things to list that I like about it, but what sticks with me, what is stuck in my mind that lives on undimmed by failing memory, is the moment near the end of the film.  [Spoiler Alert]  Oscar, realizes that he has saved a great many Jewish people by trading money to essentially buy them from the Nazi’s.  He has spent his fortune doing it.  But at the end, he realizes that perhaps he could have done more.  All the money wasted, the gold jewelry he is still wearing, all of it, any of it, could have been used to perhaps add one more name to his list.  The people he did save try desperately to comfort him, but he breaks down weeping at the magnitude of the loss of just one more person, someone he would likely not even have known very well, if at all.  His tears jump right off the movie screen and tear through me like a blender.  I call it the Schindler moment.  And what is clear to me, starkly clear to me, is that I am bound to share in it.  Each of us bound to face that same moment.  In the light of eternal joy, where love of others finally rules who we are, we will look in our heavenly mirrors and begin to weep, that we too, could have done more.  We could have loved more.  Cared more.  Done just a little more for someone else in need who will be missing eternity, perhaps in part, because of our own inaction.

Let me be clear.  This is not about salvation.  We will be saved.  It is not about perfection.  We will have been made finally completely perfect by Jesus Christ.  But it is only in that perfection of loving others perfectly that we will see the lives we have lived in this holocaust of Satan and know in the truth of our own hearts, that we simply could have done more.  And those tears are going to tear through us like a blender.  That is the ultimate judgment day, the day we finally see inside, and judge what we know is true.  It is my belief that when scripture records our God wiping away our tears, it will be those tears that require His mercy.  And the horror of this, is that we were, and we are, warned of it.  Jesus Himself gave us a parable of it, but I think we so often miss the true point of what He was saying.  In the gospel of Matthew written to his Hebrew contemporaries, picking up in chapter 25.  Jesus shifts the perspective of His second coming from the conditions that precede it, to the mission that precedes it.  What He now outlines is not so much what to be looking for before His coming, but what to be doing.  That mission is the literal salvation … of others.

It picks up in verse 14 as Jesus says … “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.”  This will be a parable, a story, an analogy of the work.  The man is our Lord Jesus Christ.  He travels to a far country, perhaps to places that needed Jesus before western Christian society was ever able, if not inclined, to travel to find native peoples.  Where He goes we do not know, only that it was a faraway country.  But this does not mean that the work He leaves behind is unimportant.  He calls “His own servants”.  These are not random strangers folks, this is you and me, followers of Jesus Christ.  And what does He give them?  He gives them His treasures.  Now our human minds immediately assume it is money.  Money is the currency we understand.  Money is most often what we crave.  But even if this were true, beyond the illustration of the story, any money gained will NOT be for us.  It is ALL given back.  So there is no “human” profit to be gained in this story.  I believe then, that money is NOT what the Lord values.  Keep in mind, he paves the streets of heaven with pure gold, making gold nothing more than concrete up there.

What our Lord does value, what He was literally willing to give His own life for, was you and me.  It is people that are the true treasure of the Lord.  People are His currency.  Not what we think of as money.  This distinction is important to the rest of the parable.  Jesus continues in verse 15 saying … “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.”  It is our Lord Himself who decides how much of His treasure to invest with us as He leaves on His trip to a far country.  I would bet He leaves more treasure with those who understand transformation best.  With those who have learned to submit, and learned to love like He loves.  As transformation is a journey, not all of us are at the same place at the same time.  Some are farther along, some have only begun.  So I would bet treasure is apportioned out to us based on our abilities to nurture it.  Notice though, as soon as the allocations are made, He immediately leaves.  Perhaps there is an urgent need for our Lord, where we have unable or unwilling to go.

Jesus continues in verse 16 saying … “Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. [verse 17] And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. [verse 18] But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.” It is interesting how the process of growing God’s treasures works.  It begins with the word “went”.  The one entrusted with 5 talents did not stay home.  They did not stay isolated.  They went out.  They met with others.  They interacted.  They likely loved others, and the love drew them to inquire about this Lord Jesus everyone was speaking of.  Inquiry, leads to interest, leading to the lure of His love, leading the new treasure to Jesus for themselves.  What began as a small team of five with a leader, evolves to a small team of ten under that leader/servant.  Yes, the analogy is written in the financial terms that would catch our attention, but the translation into heavenly currency of value, is the translation of cash into souls.

The team leader of two, did the same thing.  He went out.  He interacted.  He loved.  And the same result occurred, just on a smaller scale.  What was intended for the man only given one, was to find only ONE more soul for the kingdom.  No need for evangelism.  No need for mission work in the fields.  Perhaps just to focus his efforts on just one soul at work, or one at home.  Just one person.  But this servant only maintained the treasure of the Lord.  Now think about that.  Jesus does NOT lose money on this person.  He just does not gain anyone else.  This Christian was content to just work on his own salvation, not try to help anyone else with theirs.  Not even one more.  Just himself.  He buries the treasure he was given in order to return it as he found it, nothing better or worse about it.

Jesus continues the story in verse 19 saying … “After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. [verse 20] And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. [verse 21] His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Here is where the rubber meets the road.  Jesus is happy with the results of the man with his initial team of five becoming now ten.  “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”.  And here is irony.  Jesus sees this as only a few things.  From our perspective this was the guy who got the most in this story.  But from the perspective of the Lord, this was only an initial test investment of a “few things”.  But, given the performance, it is time to increase the investment with this person.  More treasure will be entrusted with him. 

And then comes the key phrase we usually gloss right over – “enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”.  The servant did not make any money, all that currency, all that treasure still belongs to Jesus.  So what is the joy this servant is now going to enter into.  It is not his own salvation, that was assumed from the start.  It is not heaven, the servant was already going there.  What is different?  There will be five more people in heaven than there was before, because of the work, and the love of this faithful servant.  That addition of five more people onto the heavenly list if you will, is a joy this servant will know for all of eternity.  The presence of these new five people will be an everlasting joy.  As they marry, or have kids, or just have you over to dinner some random Sabbath in the eons of time in heaven – the joy of knowing them, of loving them will have no end to it.  Company.  Proximity.  Companionship.  People, are the infinite joy when viewed in the context of eternity.  And it is people that are the joy of our Lord, in which He now invites us to share with Him.

Jesus repeats this same outcome as He continues in verse 22 saying … “He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. [verse 23] His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Just because some other guy was entrusted with five treasures, does not make the entrusting of two of any less value.  Think about that math.  Each treasure is priceless.  Therefore, the addition of two is just as valuable as the addition of five.  And our Lord is just as happy with the servant who was given two and turned that into four, as He was with the guy with five who turned it into ten.  The same exact reward is given.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  It is the joy of the Lord that is offered.  Not heaven.  Not salvation.  Those things were already in the destiny of a servant of Jesus Christ.  What is more than that is the infinite treasure of more souls in His Kingdom we will get to spend eternity with.  Even two more is awesome!!

And so it comes back to the one guy.  Jesus continues in verse 24 saying … “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: [verse 25] And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.”  There are many important themes in this interaction.  First, the man is afraid of His Lord.  Why?  Is it possible his image of God is one of a “hard” God looking to punish us for what we do, instead of helping us to do better?  Is it possible this man believes salvation is a burden he must carry, and the work of his own salvation is so great he has no time or energy for someone else?  Or is that just how we think?  The image this servant has of his God is not a good one.  But it does imply that our God gets results from the most unlikely places (perhaps from the most unlikely people).  At the end of his excuses, he hands back over the soul he was entrusted with to his Lord.  If these talents are truly other people, the unfortunate side effect of this approach, is that he has taught the other talent/person to focus on himself as well, not to be used in the redemptive mission of our Lord.

Jesus responds in verse 26 … “His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: [verse 27] Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. [verse 28] Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.”  Ouch!  Notice the choice of reprimand Jesus has for His servant.  First, He does not disown His servant.  But He is very disappointed with the performance of His servant.  “Wicked” and “slothful” or lazy if you prefer.  Even if the servant has a poor image of what God does (reaping a harvest from the most unlikely places), the servant should have at least attempted to grow the investment incrementally.  That is to say teaching both himself, and the treasure/talent he was entrusted with, to grow a relationship or a transformation that bears some results (even if not the whole enchilada).  Because this servant failed to do this, the error in example had to be corrected.  The treasure/talent was taken from this servant and given to the man who now has ten talents/treasures under his care.  The idea here is that this talent will now learn for himself what it means to truly get out there and participate in the redemptive mission of Christ.

Any Christian who thinks working on themselves is the only part of their mission they should care about should consider the example of the last servant in this analogy.  This still is not about salvation.  This still is not about heaven.  This is about what will be missing from heaven.  Jesus continues picking up in verse 29 saying … “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. [verse 30] And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Those Christians who love like Jesus loves CANNOT ignore the needs of others.  It is hardwired into them.  It is the driving motivation in their lives.  It is not something they do part time (or never).  It is something they do incessantly, just like Jesus does.  For it is Jesus who transforms us as we submit ourselves to Him, remaking us exactly like He is.  Teaching us to love like He does.  It is in this transformation that perfect obedience can be born, in the passionate love of others.

What the fate of this last servant shows is perhaps one of two ideas.  First, either that he was mistaken entirely about how salvation works, never allowing Jesus to purge the sin in him, and teach him how to passionately love others.  Therefore, cast even out of eternity itself.  Or far more frightening.  The grace of our Lord can cover any and every sin, even selfishness (especially because selfishness is at the root of every sin).  So perhaps the servant remains in heaven, but is given a glimpse at the horror of not having just added one more soul to the ranks of eternity.  The Schindler moment in full and living color (or rather darkness in black and white).  This is the far scarier idea.  Because it forces us to see inside and realize our failure, our waste of His resources, of the time He gave us, of the love He showered upon us.  We see His perfect work and our broken tool of a response.  We see that because of what we failed to do, just one more soul may be missing from the ranks of the redeemed in heaven.  It is not that we save anyone.  But what we contribute to the redemptive mission of Jesus is real tangible love in the here and now – or a full lack of it.  It will be our apathy that brings us horror.  It will cause great weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And ultimately, I believe it will require the hand of a loving God to wipe away our tears lest we cry them forever.

This is a picture Jesus offers of the work we are to be engaged in before He comes back.  It is not about signs, or at least external signs.  It is about how we respond to His transformative love.  Do we embrace it and join Him to enter in to the joy of our Lord?  Or do we push it back, choosing to focus only on self, or even mostly on self, to the exclusion of others in great need all around us.  One thing I know, a Schindler moment is coming for all of us, for each of us.  There is no avoiding it.  And its tears are going to rip right through us like a blender.  All we can do, is not continue to waste the love He offers, but to employ it in reaching out to those in so great need.  We cannot avoid or defer our moment.  But perhaps we can build a great crowd of comforters to hold us in our day of sadness, like the Jews that Oscar saved tried so desperately to hold and comfort him.  That will have to be enough.

But Jesus had even more lessons to share regarding His second coming …

 

Daddy Issues ...

A lot of unkind jokes use the phrase “daddy issues” to make a punchline out of lifelong insecurities.  Most conventional thinking attributes the ideas of daddy issues to young women inexplicably attracted to older men.  But that is far from where it truly ends.  Nearly every child of divorce has some inkling of what daddy issues entails.  And divorced or not, every child of workaholic type “A” personality go-getter dads knows what it is like to live in that shadow and possibility never live up to it.  Who you are cannot be explained in full without knowing where you come from; not just who composed your family members, but what life was like with them as well.  All of us no matter the age we recognize it, look for a degree of affirmation from our fathers.  We want that “stamp of approval”, perhaps “parental pride”, to lean on, and know it is there, and it is as solid as concrete.  Given the state of our society, I would say those of us getting this affirmation, and knowing we have it, is a good deal less than the majority of our populous.

But it gets worse ☹.  You have probably heard the expression (derived from scripture), that “we are made in the image of God”.  This tells us we tie the roots of our existence in similarity to the God who created us.  Some people say “we have a God shaped hole in each of us”.  This is meant to convey that we each seek a love that only God can provide.  No other substitute for it, no matter what level of self-gratification we try to mask that need with.  If you mirrored our local family needs of at least at some point looking for the affirmation of our earth-bound fathers – then it stands to reason we will look even harder for the affirmation of our Heavenly Father.  But there’s the rub.  Local dad can tell me he loves me, or if he is proud of me (if he ever chooses to).  But Heavenly Dad seems to have a harder time getting that message across.  We have a distance thing to deal with.  And if not the physical distance, we also have a distance between us in how we love.  He loves me absolutely.  But instead of loving others that way, I tend to heap all the love I get, right back on me (ahh the invention of selfishness).  So how could our Father God, ever be proud of me, when it is clear, my life could hardly ever be a source of pride in a heavenly kingdom (where selfishness is something long since extinct in the average heavenly heart, let alone in a God, who was willing to die for me, to show me how far His love would take Him).

I am a disobedient child at best.  Belligerent, noisy, insisting I know what I am doing, when history is clear I do not.  Any Father of a two-year-old can tell you when they are screaming and covered in poo, it is hard to pick that precise moment to state your pride in them.  I should imagine this is a dilemma God faces nearly every time He looks at me.  On the other side of that coin, any Father of a two-year-old can also tell you that sometimes even despite our bad behavior we can still look pretty cute to Dad.  Perhaps it is because we belong to Dad.  Perhaps because we are His.  Perhaps it is His love that is able to see through our shenanigans and see us for who we could be, rather than perhaps who we are.  And every dad wants to clean up our dirty; nurse the boo-boo’s; and point us in a direction where what will bring us happiness is right in front of us (instead on unnoticed by us).  The daddy issues we may find ourselves having with God, don’t come because of His lack of love, they come from us failing to realize “this” is not what was meant for any of us.  There is something so much better.  And we need to trust Dad, that He is trying to set our course on a path to that (no matter how it looks in the here and now).

Matthew in his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries, in chapter 25, continues discussing what the second coming will be like from a readiness point of view.  The conditions we face here and how we might steer clear of paths leading in the wrong direction.  Jesus gives us a parable (a story that is), to show themes His audience would understand better.  This one picks up in verse 1 saying … “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. [verse 2] And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”  So call me cynical but in today’s modern age the first thing that jumps out at me is the ratio of brides to husband, ten to one, if I read this right.  My cynical mind jumps right to the unkind phrase “daddy issues”.  Why else would any bride be willing to share their husband with another bride, let alone with nine others?  But then I remember, this is a story to make a point, not a word for word endorsement of multiple-partner-marriages.

And then it also occurs to me, perhaps the Bridegroom, was the one NOT given a choice in the matter.  What? You ask.  Think about it.  Traditionally the bride(s) represent a church of some kind.  In this case we presume a Christian church.  And perhaps at the end of all things (i.e. in our modern age), there is more than “one” Christian Church who qualifies as being a bride of Christ.  Imagine that my Baptist friends, it could be that you will be sharing your virginal bride status, with our Catholic friends, and Mormon friends, and Adventist friends, and so on, and so on.  I know a good number of Christian denominations (my own no exception), that believe “they” are the only “virgin” – all the rest are sluts at best.  All of us Christians are quick to adopt the idea that our particular church is the virgin talked about in scripture, and any other church can get thrown into the “whore” category, also discussed elsewhere (and out of context).  But if Jesus was coming back to reclaim all the believers who follow Him, then perhaps He has an appointment with ten virgins instead of one, because our foolishness and pride over doctrines have left Him no choice but to find ten of us walled off from each other, each thinking we are “all that”.  When in truth, we each have only a portion of “the Truth”, too stubborn to accept that others might have other parts of “the Truth”.

Consider too, Jesus does not say the Bridegroom was coming to marry 2 virgins, 3 concubines, 2 divorcee’s, and 3 good old-fashioned prostitutes.  Instead all ten are virgins.  Which given our doctrinal differences (that cannot possibly “all” be right), it might be that the only thing that makes one a virgin is in how they truly “follow” Jesus Christ.  Not, if they have scriptural understanding perfect, or every prophecy coded down to a gnat’s behind.  But even in virginity, there is a distinction between the wise and the foolish.  Jesus tells us what that is continuing in verse 3 as he goes on stating … “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: [verse 4] But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”  Daddy issues again perhaps?  This time however, it is more about how we listen to Dad, than whether His instructions are clear.  Think about it, virginity is not in question.  The fact that you are bride destined to marry our Lord is not in question.  This is about whether you carry the oil you need for a moment, or whether you plan ahead for any contingencies.  It is a subtle difference.

Everybody has oil on day one.  If we were to interpret that the “oil” was a reference to the Holy Spirit, then you could assume every believer has a notion of the role of the Holy Spirit and is at least initially happy to invite Him into our lives.  But when you invite God in, He comes.  And when you invite God in, He starts changing things.  Before you even realize it, sin is on its way out, and joy is backfilling the void.  Most of us would say bring it on.  But for each of us who has some sin we are not quite ready to give up, we may not want “that much” Holy Spirit in our lives and hearts.  What if the Holy Spirit begins taking the cherished sin out?  He might knock that sin right out of our hearts before we are ready to lose it.  For us foolish virgins, we want a “controlled” measure of the Holy Spirit in our lives, not a full measure of it.  We are still too foolish as to try to give up “all” our sins, we just want most of them gone, and keep only a small few we are so desperately fond of.  And so we create daddy issues when that was never the plan.

Jesus continues in verse 5 saying … “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”  Yeah that is one of the more painful scriptures in the Bible, and such a clear commentary on how we various Christian churches keep dropping the ball.  It’s not so much that we “ALL” slept (the foolish and the wise).  It is that we ALL were more comfortable falling asleep from a delay in His return, than in pointing others to the light and love of Jesus Christ.  That is supposed to be the number one mission of any Christian church.  And yet, nope, each of us virgins, (insert a collective reference to yours and my church here), were all too happy to sleep on the accomplishments of our founders, than to get out there and help with the redemptive work.  That just hurts.  And it is not like we can blame this on a miscommunication from some random prophet in scripture, this is Matthew recording the very words of Jesus Christ Himself, that other gospels would seem to coordinate.  So even when our virginity is in tact (we truly follow Jesus), even when we are wise and invite a full measure of the Holy Spirit’s oil into our lives and hearts, we are still taking all that testimony and witness and sleeping on it, rather than sharing it.

The sadness continues as Jesus states in verse 6 saying … “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”  At midnight, that is to say, when we are deep in sleep, and completely unaware something is coming.  Or as Jesus stated earlier, in an hour when we think not.  A cry is made.  Well guess what, the cry is NOT coming from one of the virgins.  They are ALL asleep.  The cry would most likely come from an external, heavenly, or heavenly inspired source.  Perhaps there is a group of Christians who are as we speak, learning to submit to Jesus, and experiencing a level of transformation from His love, that put them outside completely of all the known churches.  Or perhaps there are so few of them, it takes an angel to get things kicked off.  Either way, every church finally wakes up, and is told to begin to go out to meet the bridegroom.  Time to kindle up that oil.

Jesus continues in verse 7 saying … “Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. [verse 8] And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. [verse 9] But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.”  The foolish virgins, by wanting to cling to a few precious sins, have let their lights go out.  But they have some idea of what needs to be done.  They go to those who embraced the Holy Spirit fully, and ask them to give them some of that attractive sin killing oil.  But the time for acquiring oil requires an education the wise do not have time to give.  The foolish must go back to basics, and figure out how to get a full measure of the Holy Spirit so they too can get out there to meet the Bridegroom.  When Daddy teaches you how to trust Him, it is not a one-day process.  It takes time.  It takes a full submission.  You must learn how to recover from bumps in the road, we bring about by trashing the victories He gives, with our stubborn failures.  It takes the humility to come again to Dad, ask forgiveness, and start the process again.  And as we go through this process, we learn what it really means to trust Dad.  The daddy issues start to dissipate.

Jesus continues in verse 10 saying … “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. [verse 11] Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. [verse 12] But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. [verse 13] Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”  When Jesus comes, they that are ready will go with Him.  Those who are not ready, those who still cling to sin, any sin, do not understand the degerative disease they have chosen to hang on to.  It is like wanting to keep just a little bit of terminal cancer.  It is like being a cocaine addict and only keep a closet full of it (even though the rest of the house is clean).  When we cling to sin, it is a disease that overwhelms us.  It changes us.  It makes us self-centered.  And our self-centered-ness grows until that is all we really are, no matter what banner we claim as our belief system.

It will not be the moniker “Catholic” or “Baptist” that saves you in the end.  It will be whether you allowed Jesus and the Holy Spirit to wipe the sin out of you, in heart, mind, and body.  It will be whether you submitted to Jesus, and learned how to love like He loves.  When that happens you develop a passion for other people.  When you delay it, you embrace apathy for others, and love for yourself.  It leads to those horrible words coming from the foolish virgins who ask to be let it, and finding the Bridegroom saying “I know you not”.  In another parable, those words were uttered by Jesus associated with Christians who carried the name, but never did anything for the poor or needy, because they frankly did not care about the poor, imprisoned, or needy.  They were too busy in church to make time for people in need.  They were too busy performing miracles in the name of Jesus, too busy planning worship services, and offering sermons.  They did much in the name of Jesus (just not anything from a genuine love of others, only a need to be seen as great themselves).  And so Jesus says to them, I know you not.  A lack of embrace of full transformation leads to behavior that results in the ultimate of daddy issues.  It leads to losing Dad forever.

That is not what our Heavenly Dad wants.  The mission of Jesus was not to see us lose to sin, it was to see us let Him take the sin out of us.  We were not meant to live in pain, and suffer death.  We were meant to live in bliss, and know the true joy of loving others never even thinking of yourself.  The command to “Watch” by Jesus is not a veiled threat to those who understand transformation.  It means the clock is ticking, and we only have so much more time of participating in His redemptive mission to point others to the light and love of Jesus Christ.  Once Jesus returns, the clock is done.  No more time to help others.  Only time to return with Him.  Whoever we missed, whoever we did not love enough, is now a lost opportunity.  A fate no child wants to see.  And an issue for our heavenly Dad He just cannot bare to think about.  It is why He delays, desperately hoping each of us will come to Him.  The delay was not a punishment to those waiting His return, it was a desperate plea to those who could care less.  That kind of love that just does not want to give up, on even one poo-stained child, is where the heart of our Daddy is.

And the affirmation we seek from our Father, will one day come in person from Him, and forever more in person from Him.  And then, the idea of daddy issues will be gone forever.

And Jesus was not yet done trying to prepare us for His second coming …

 

Treasure Lost, Treasure Kept ...

What is the most important item you have in your home?  Is it your TV, maybe your computer?  Do you keep jewelry at home, or have you bought furniture recently for Christmas?  If for some reason, a thief managed to break in to your home, what would you fear the loss of the most?  We think about this before it happens.  We think about ADT or other services after it does.  If insurance does its job, the things we have, should be replaced (though with fine print that may never quite happen).  But I would venture to say there are things way more valuable than what I mentioned above.  The people you live with, would top the list.  When we look to protect and defend ourselves, the purchase of a gun comes to mind.  But no matter what scenario happens that robs us of what treasure we have, the common element is surprise.  Its not as if the would-be thief leaves a note on the door, scheduling the day and time they are expecting to come in and rob us.  That would be so far fetched no one (including the police I imagine) would believe it.  It just does not make sense.  No, the thief must count on the element of surprise to successfully rob us of our treasure.  We are just so complacent in our normality, we never expect it, until we are shocked that it happened to us.

Jesus understood this.  Though never having sinned, Jesus understands well both the motives and the methods of every thief ever born.  And frankly Jesus would redeem everyone of them if they would but let Him.  In the gospel of Matthew to his Hebrew contemporaries, Jesus discusses the element of surprise as it relates to His second coming.  In this case sad to say, but we just never seem to see it coming.  He picks up with this same analogy in verse 43 saying … “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. [verse 44] Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”  There is more to this simple analogy than might first meet the eye.  It relates to the context of the previous texts in Matthew’s gospel of this same chapter.  Where it comes to being prepared for the Lord’s second coming; Jesus states one would be ready and taken, the other not.  One person, even one Christian, would be ready, the other not.  One person who truly understands the love of Jesus, that transforms, and teaches us to love others – the other not.

Imagine this statement is true, even within the household walls of one single family.  Imagine a husband who is ready, and his wife not.  Adam faced this.  Imagine a set of children ready, their parents not.  Imagine a sibling who is ready, and their other not.  It is most painful to think that even within a single family unit, one might be ready, with another not.  It is possible though; because salvation is personal and not transferrable.  As much as a parent might wish to lay down their own lives to see their children sparred, they cannot.  As much as a husband might wish to lay down his life for the sake of his wife; he cannot force his wife to truly know Jesus, and vice versa.  Sometimes when there is a person within a family who has great faith, perhaps a mother or grandmother, all the other family members look to her in matters of religion.  But her faith, is not your faith, her stories not your stories.  Her knowledge of the love of Jesus, is not your knowledge.  Each person must come to know Jesus for him or herself.  No one can be forced. 

And so, even within the walls of our own home, not everyone may have accepted what you have accepted.  If this is true, then the finality of the second coming is an event that seals life long trends, and life long rejections of a loving God.  If this happens, it would very surely cause our home to be “broken up”.  It is not the treasures of this world we would ever miss, compared to the infinite world we can barely imagine.  But the treasures of our family, of those we love – those are treasures that we would miss for eternity if we were to be deprived of their company and their love.  There are some treasures we will lose at His second coming, and find they were never really treasures at all.  And there are some treasures we could lose at His second coming, we will find had no price tag high enough in our eyes and hearts.  And worst of all, it is the surprise that might settle which is which.

This was the point of Jesus who treasures each of us more than His very own life.  It will be in an hour we think not.  In an hour when normal life looks so incredibly normal.  When everything that has carried on, continues to carry on, just like before for what seems like a million years.  Plans we make.  Lives we live.  Movies we watch.  Entertainment we pursue.  Careers we wish to grow.  And the love of families we enjoy.  All of it so utterly normal, so utterly routine.  Nothing special to catch the eye.  And then BAM!!  The clouds appear in the eastern sky, about the size of a man’s fist, growing as it approaches our world and becoming brighter.  Until a host of angels arrive led by Jesus Christ so enormous the sight of it cannot be contained across the entirety of our world.  That heavenly trumpet will blow.  No need for TV coverage, the naked eye will see it just fine.  And how we react to it, whether in fear for our existence, or in joy for our eternal reconciliation; will say a lot about whether we were ready despite normality, or lulled into the sleep of complacency up until then.  Will we suffer the tragedy of broken homes, because we just assumed each member of our family knew Jesus like we did?  Or is it we, who still need to know Him?

Jesus continues on the theme of continual readiness picking back up in verse 45 saying … “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? [verse 46] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [verse 47] Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.”  A few things to zero-in on in these words.  To begin, note that we are not God, or Lords of any kind.  All of us on planet earth are servants of one sort or the other.  What we are given to manage (our treasures), are gifts from our Lord.  Our households, our families, our real treasures – are as much a gift and blessing from Jesus as anything else we might claim to “own”.  In point of fact, we “own” nothing, we “manage” His gifts because of His love for each of us.  To provide meat (or harvest) in due season; that is to say, to see the love of Jesus so fully infect us, that we cannot help but pour it out upon those around us.  Making the harvest greater by pointing the other seeds to the Master of the vineyard.  This is our highest honor, and best role, as manager of the gifts He bestows upon us.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ, that is, keeping our eyes transfixed on Jesus in submission.  Allowing Jesus to change how we think, what we want, and how we love – is being faithful to Jesus.  Our purpose here is only one role we are to play.  Our service continues into the new world.  Finding us willing to serve here, allows Him to assign us new things, a new purpose in the new world.  Again not as kings, or Lord, but as willing servants, set to manage whatever tasks He would assign us to do.  Ever dependent upon Him.  Ever filled with joy at whatever He would assign.  We will have learned that following the Lord’s instruction or plans, is infinitely better than trying to follow what we think is best.  A lifetime on earth is supposed to teach us this as well.  An extension of our service, is what is planned for the new world.  Not the beginning of it, but the extending of it.  For those who think they will begin to serve only after they have to, or only after the grave, they are mistaken and have misunderstood the joy of being a servant of the Lord in the first place.

Jesus compares those who are happy to serve, with those who think they are no servants at all as He continues in verse 48 saying … “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; [verse 49] And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;”  Notice what happens to the behavior of the servants who believe the delay in the Lords coming gives them a license to assert control.  They begin by trying to dominate other servants themselves, instead of accepting each one as an equal.  Husbands might try to dominate their wives instead of serving them and loving them so much they would give their own lives for them.  Relationships within families disintegrate as the role of servant is abandoned to seek the role of authoritarian.  We wish to see ourselves as benevolent dictators (like God) instead of servants equally praised and valued by the same Lord of Lord, and King of Kings. 

After asserting control over others which we should have never done, the next step in the regressive behavior is to fall into normality of seeking fun above most else.  This is not so much a condemnation of eating particular things, or drinking to excess – it is a warning about the normality of believing control rests with us, and pleasure seeking is the most important pursuit we have.  It is in this cesspool of complacency where evil is nurtured until the love-of-self blinds us completely to the love-of-others.  We fall completely out of harmony with God, and find ourselves completely in harmony with the world around us.  Each man or woman looking out for number one; because if I don’t, who will?  The degenerative addictive disease of evil can so overtake its human host, the human eventually becomes indistinguishable from the evil that grows wildly within it.  Without submission to Jesus, instead of asserting control, salvation becomes a theory never tested.  We talk about it.  But have no experience with it.  And our lives, and the evil of our deeds, testify to that lack of personal experience with salvation.

But evil cannot last forever.  There will one day come an end to it.  An arbitrary end enforced by a loving God after every chance has been offered and refused.  It is hard for us to believe this would be a willing outcome, but for those infected by evil, and devoid of love for others, it is not so hard to imagine.  Jesus describes the outcome for such individuals with heavy heart as He continues in verse 50 saying … “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, [verse 51] And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Evil will one day be cut off from this world, and then from eternity.  The rewards for those who refuse to submit look nearly identical to those who falsely claim they submit.  Weeping and gnashing of teeth; not over who they are, or who they became, or even what they do – but of being caught at it, and busted by The Truth.

Evil never wishes to die, it only wishes to continue, and get worse.  Satan did not start out as Satan.  He was once Lucifer who broke trust with God over whether loving self was indeed harmful or not.  Who he has become answered the question of self-love and its real dangers for the entire universe.  The entire universe has learned that there is no “different” from God that is good.  God is the embodiment of all that is good, so if it is different from God, by definition it is evil.  The universe was forced to learn this lesson by the breaking of trust with God, that Lucifer did way back then.  The invention of pain and death was born into a universe who had never seen either, until “different” was introduced by Lucifer as an “alternative” to God.  And because Lucifer became Satan, pulled with him a third of the angels (now demons) and has spent 6000+ years trying to further hurt God by tempting His creations to abandon His love – we are the casualties of a war our Lord is trying desperately to save us from.

But evil does have an expiration date.  It will not last forever.  To save our treasure, we must submit it to Jesus.  We must stop looking for control over others and start looking through His transformative love to serve others as He did.  Submission to Jesus leads to continual readiness.  No other path does that.  No other self-described deity offers that.  And the idea of independence is merely a myth, one of Satan’s lies, to get you to believe that Satan does not even exist.  To save our treasure we can eliminate being surprised - by being continually ready, in continual submission, in continual service.  The changes that makes in our own lives, might serve best as the witness our own families need in order to see Jesus clearer.  And while salvation may not be transferrable, the love of Jesus for others is highly infectious, and appealing, and leads to a happiness none can take away.  To point others to His light and love, is to be prepared in a world that is not.  Let us make our servitude an extension of our lives into the new world of eternity, rather than a new discovery at that event.

But even so Jesus had more to say about being prepared …