There is a pretty good chance you remember some of the
stories about David, the humble shepherd boy who killed the giant, Goliath, and went on to become the mighty warrior king in ancient Israel. He
truly accomplished great things in his 70 years, of which more than half were
devoted to serving God by serving the people of God.
David wasn’t the perfect, godly man, yet in spite of the
wrongs he committed against God and others, he is known for the heroic deeds of
his life. He was rewarded with fame and fortune for all of his victories, yet
at the end of his life the most important task to him was to pay tribute to
God. He wanted to insure that the God who led him to victory, who showered him
with mercy, who granted grace where it was undeserved, would be honored in such
a way that all people would see the monument… the temple… the place of worship
that his son, Solomon, would erect. Why? Because, without God, nothing he had
accomplished mattered one bit.
I lost my hero… my King David last December. I held his hand
as he left this world and entered the presence of the God he loved and served.
Before he left, he wrote in his journal, “The message at my funeral is not
about my virtue, but about God’s grace.” I believe that Dad and David shared
the same heart for God (though my Dad was much less violent and never allowed
power to corrupt him). I know that I long for the message of my life to point
to God, not to anything I may accomplish.
This morning I got word that a friend, a colleague in
ministry, a women who devoted herself to her God, her family and community lost the
battle to cancer. Judge Amy Cornell leaves behind a husband and three young children.
It’s hard to lose a hero. It hurts deeply. But, the Davids and the Franklins
and the Amys of this world have planted seeds in our hearts that remind us
there is something more to life than our days on this planet. It is our
adventure with our God that allows us to invest in others while we are here
that pays dividends into an unknown future.
While many of us are still scrambling to gather our 2017 tax
information we can see where our financial investments were in the previous
year and take stock of what we spent, discovering what we apparently valued
most. We can look back at our calendars
and discover how our time was invested and discover more of what we valued. But, may I encourage you to step back and look
at your people… your spouse, your parents, your children and grandchildren,
your co-workers and neighbors, and witness the investment you placed in their lives
in the previous year. Who have you been to those people God has placed on your
path? Did you shine the light of truth; shower the love of God that overflows
within you; walk alongside and teach the ways of Jesus?
What are the dividends being paid on your most important
investment… the time and prayer and grace and love and instruction that you are
pouring into others for God’s sake? That, according to Scripture, is all that
really matters in the end. God made us each His Masterpiece. We were each
created for a purpose. We are all part of a Divine plan. Heroism is not
reserved for the King Davids or the Clarence Franklins or the Amy Cornells of
this world. So, shake the wrinkles out of your super cape and soar to that
place where God is calling you to be a hero, reflecting the goodness and grace
of a loving Creator God.
No comments:
Post a Comment