No it’s not your favorite watch, or your wedding ring, or
one of those truly sentimental things you have picked up during your lifetime
that mean so much to you. Those items
help remind you of things that actually have more value. For instance, the watch you inherited from
your parents, passed down from their parents, etc.. – this item may have
monetary value, but the memories it inspires within you are what make it
meaningful. These memories of loved-ones
are the link to the physical item that make it sentimental at all. Would you trade that watch (or item) back, to
have your family healthy and with you once again? Who wouldn’t?
The people wind up being of far more value than the symbol we remember
them with.
The Bible itself is full of symbolism and items with double
or even triple meanings in order to help us understand God’s plan for us. Take for instance the old testament precept
of sacrificing a “sheep without blemish” in order to be forgiven of sins. On the surface this looks like simple pagan
animal sacrifice. But look a little
deeper at the symbolism – the sheep represents Christ who would come and die
for our sins. Christ would be our
ultimate sacrifice (in fact after his death, this practice was not needed by
our Christian church any longer). Continuing
on the symbolism route, Christ was called “the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sins of the world.” Sound
familiar? The old testament lamb had to
be “without spot or blemish” meaning untainted by sin, perfect as Christ was
perfect. It had to a lamb, not a full
grown sheep. As lambs and children are
innocent, so was Christ innocent. We
would use our own hands to kill the lamb, as it was our sins and our
forefathers who killed the Savior. There
could be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, both of the old
testament lamb, and of our Savior. Even
the old testament was sensitive to the needs of the poor, if they could not
afford a lamb for sacrifice, they could substitute a white dove instead. Can you guess the symbolism of that one?
It seems ironic to me, that in our day Christians prize
symbols, sometimes so highly, they lose the meaning behind them. For instance, Catholics continue to believe
that certain acts of worship performed in certain places guarantee outcomes in
the next world. Yet there is nothing in
ALL of the bible that would indicate this is true. Acceptance of God is the only method of
salvation. Protestants share a fondness
for wearing gold and silver crosses on a necklass or other piece of jewelry. Here is even more irony, taking a symbol of a
tortured death, of agony that kills its victim every time, and making it a
piece of jewelry we wear around our necks giving us pride in our beliefs. A closer examination of what took place on
this symbol should reveal our role in its need.
Do we wear this so proudly knowing it is “we” who continue to require
the blood of our Lord, by our eagerness to choose evil over good. I am ashamed that my actions require the
cross for salvation. I am grateful for
the loving nature of my God who saved me from myself by dying on the
cross. But I cannot see this symbol as
anything more than my shame, His torture, and my responsibility. It does not give me pride, it breaks the
pride within me.
So if we cannot take our favorite symbols with us when we go
to heaven, and we know our wealth dies behind us. What can we take? There is something that is stronger than
death, and lasts longer than our time in the grave. It is the thing we do take with us as we are
called from our sleep into the city our Lord has prepared. It is not our characters. Our character must be purified, or perhaps
better described, re-born and made new in order for us to venture into
heaven. All our evil desires, habits,
addictions, and behaviors must be wiped clean before we venture into heaven. This process begins now, and is completed at
our coming forth from the graves, or just prior to our ascension in the clouds
should we be alive at His second coming.
Our personalities, preferences, mannerisms, and habits that are not
tainted by sin will remain with us, and make us recognizable to everyone who
knew us in our imperfect state, but our characters will undergo as much or more
change as our bodies do.
What lasts beyond our death, that no human or satanic power
can ever take away, is that characteristic of God He created in us, and we can
use daily to enrich our lives. It is
love. We can take our love with us to
heaven. Our love of each other, our love
of family, our love of that special soul mate, our love for our kids, for our
friends – this powerful influence in our loves is the only permanent thing this
world is capable of experiencing. It is
why good conquers evil. It is why love
defeats hate. It simply outlasts it. When all that is evil has passed away
forever, never to be seen or heard from again.
When the fires of hell have long been burnt out, when the devil and all
who chose to follow him and to deny the gift of God, have long ceased to exist
– what exists still is love. That God is
love should tell us this.
We can invest ourselves in each other knowing that these
acts of love are forming a relationship which can last beyond the mere
boundaries of this earthly life. We are
free to love each other, knowing this alone has permanence. Where I hurt you, your forgiveness outlasts
my neglect. Where I curse you, your
kind words echo throughout all time and eternity, and my curse is heard no
more. It is nearly impossible to meet
love with hate, and sustain that hate.
It is so hard to do. Our divine
image created within us longs to love, we long to love and be loved, it is imprinted
in us as much as the uniqueness of our DNA.
We share this common bond of love.
It can unite us past our imperfections.
It can offer forgiveness for the most heinous, premeditated, acts of
choice and horror inflicted upon us. It
can bring us to our knees in dumbfounded humility as we realize the depths of
love that can be shown to each other. It
can reveal the awe in the pure simplicity and faith in the love of a child for
its parent, no matter what we might think of the worthiness of that parent.
But therein lies the strength and power of love, it is not
because we are worthy of it, that we receive it – it is because God chooses to
love us that we receive it. Likewise
when we choose to love each other, we give each other a gift. Not because we are worthy, but because He is
worthy. We forgive because we are
forgiven. We love because we are
loved. And the permanence of our relationships
and the bonds we forge are done in the steel of heaven which cannot be broken
by the evil in this earth. This is what
we take with us as we enter the sleep of our graves – the assurance of the love
we have shown. We know as we awake to
greet a perfect world, all those who we loved will return that love once
again.
The influence of the love we have given, may help those who
do not know the Lord today to find Him, and follow Him, the source of all
love. Our great commission was NOT to
convince, to convict, to judge, to argue, or even to preach – it was simply to
love. When we love, we reveal the
character of its author. When we
forgive, we emulate the author of forgiveness.
We begin to act in the manner of our Lord, the more we choose to love
each other. This is the influence others
need to see, to be drawn to the source of love.
They do not need only our words, they need to see our love. There is nothing more powerful and
influential on the life, that the active choice of another to love you.
It is a part of life here that we all die. Some die earlier than expected. Some die from the choices of others. But until our Lord returns and kills death
once and for all time, we are destined to experience it. When this final sleep approaches, I hope we
are able to meet it having lived a life so full of love that we regret
little. I hope our mistakes are
overshadowed by the love we chose to give, to ALL those we came into contact
with. This is our comfort and our
solace when we approach the great abyss.
We have the knowledge our time will feel short in the sleep of
death. We know that death itself will
someday come to an end. We know our
reward is sure for our reward began in our lives the second we accepted the
gift of God. The progress we have made
towards eradicating all evil in our lives is an early down payment of the
reward Heaven will bring when this work will be completed fully. And we know the love we chose to share will
be waiting for us upon our return.
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