April 13, 2009
Making Room
All churches everywhere prepare for an influx of attendees on Easter Sunday. Sometimes visitors are from out of town, but all too often they are the once-a-year church goers. We who attend regularly know and accept that we’ll likely have to squeeze together and sometimes even give up our seats in order to make room for the visitors. Last Sunday when I didn’t see one of our faithful older couples I asked their daughter where they were. “Oh, they’re at home…they’re making room for all the heathens.”
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Gail;
-----In a small way it is kind of sad, this sight of all the heathens packing into church one Sunday per year. Sunday in and Sunday out the loyal toil faithfully through the year, fulfilling the best they can the Lord’s work they find set before them. They know the blessings of committing a piece of their time every week to giving recognition to the Lord and gathering themselves together. They know the blessings of the many things they think and say and do for the Lord throughout the week in the safety of their relationship with Him. The seeds that are their faith have rooted and are growing strong and tall. Meanwhile, through the rest of the year, all those heathen just go about their business.
-----Thankfully, in the much larger way it is joyful, this sight of all them packing into church one Sunday per year. The testimony of their presence is to the durability of the new life and to the primary purpose of Christ’s sacrifice. Their year doesn’t pass in an endless stream of time devoid of thought and feeling. Their minds are as deep as anyone’s, their hearts as broken. In His own way the Lord stirs in those depths, taking advantage of any space and opportunity available. He relates to the person through whatever He is given, however meager that may be. For His primary purpose is to raise the dead to life, to restore the sick to health.
-----Just as the hospital does not toss out the door a patient who lingers on the slimmest thread of life, Christ does not abandon the child who lives in the slimmest glimmer of hope. His promise is to save all those who call upon His name. He did not set regulations and rules regarding the duration and loudness of the call. His ears are tuned to the faintest whisper. He did not set a degree to which repentance must be reached. None of us have repented fully, otherwise we too would be perfect in behavior. He is responsive to the slightest stirring of repentance. In turn, it is He who gives faith by measure. So, what is relevant is that the seed in the soil has life, not that it has become a tree, or a sapling, or a sprout. For His purpose is to snatch this life from death, and He will snatch whatever He can. He will snatch what He finds genuine, no matter how minute it may be. Some of those Easter children will be snatched away for the genuine twinkle in them, while down the pew will remain a boisterous, bellowing, disingenuous charlatan who was sure to be seen every time the church doors opened. The difference is the sincerity of what is in the heart, not the quantity.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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