When it comes time to travel, I am probably the world’s worst packer. For that matter, when it came time to move into our (hopefully last!) home, my wife and I were pretty much at odds as to how carefully everything should be packed. We bought a home in the same neighborhood that is only about three blocks from our old home. I just did not see the point in taking so much care to pack when the greatest care could be taken just to drive the three blocks and unload it straight into where it belongs. Why pack and unpack, with all the stuffing that goes with it, when the trip is going to be five minutes, tops? It’s not like we were moving across the country!
I just don’t worry too much about how carefully things go into a suitcase or a box. I guess a lot of it has to do with perspective. I am focused not on the journey itself but rather, on the destination. I want to get there as quickly as possible. If something does not make the trip in its proper condition, well, that’s why the Lord made Wal Mart. The same principle applies to taking a short business trip. I’ll take what I need, but I’m still so focused on the destination that I just don’t put a lot of thought into how my goods are going to survive the trip. I don’t know that such an attitude is good or bad; it just is what it is.
No matter where we choose to go, there is always going to be the journey itself which will conclude, sooner or later, with our arrival at destination. I suppose there can really be no such thing as “aimless wandering” because we are always going to eventually wind up somewhere whether we mean to or not. What is important to us, however, will reveal itself in whether we are focused on the journey or the destination. Is one more important than the other? I think not. Rather, it is the proverbial two-sided coin; there cannot be one without the other. And it seems to me that if we focus too intently on one, we may miss the significance of the other.
I have long maintained that if we focus too intently on getting to Heaven (i.e.; saving our own skin), we will miss out on the importance of why we are created in the first place. If we truly believe in the grace of the Lord, we will be more intent on the missionary journey that is discipleship and let the judgment fall into the hands of the merciful One we call “Father”. It is important – to the glory of the Lord – that we live a life worthy of Him, living the best example of Christ’s life that we possibly can. After that will be the call of the Lord God: “Well done, My good and faithful servant. Now enter into My glory.” Anything that focuses too much on “getting saved” can run dangerously close to trying to earn our way into Heaven which, of course, cannot be done.
In Luke’s Gospel reading (12:13-21), however, Jesus seems intently focused on the Final Destination while the rich man is more concerned about the journey though I would suggest that the journey of discipleship that Jesus calls us to is not the same journey the rich man is concerned with. The rich man is completely focused on himself and his own personal comfort, perhaps even his pride. He wants to hoard all that he can so that he can be sure he will never run out, or he wants everyone to SEE what he has and what he has accomplished.
The problem with such an attitude of “self” is that just as surely as there are poor and hungry people among us now, there were poor and hungry people then. In fact, Jesus says so. But “like a thief in the night”, the Lord snuck up on the rich man (again, like Jesus says so) and called him to account. It was time for the Judgment, and all the rich man had to show for his life were big barns filled with his grain and other goods. I think it is safe to say that for the rich man at that moment, all his possessions just about equaled the value of a rusted out Dodge pickup.
Greed makes us do funny things although not many people are laughing when it comes time to account for our lives. And we will, without exception, be called upon in one way or the other because nothing of this life that we can acquire by our greed will do us much good when the Day of the Lord comes. And even in this life, our greed has a tendency to sneak up on us without warning and demand of us more than we are willing to sacrifice, including our families, our children. For the greedy, “adequate” is never enough and in our quest for “more”, we are most willing to sacrifice almost anything to get what we want which is still …. NOT ENOUGH.
I would also suggest that most likely what we value most in this life will matter least in the world to come.
The journey we call “life” is not an easy one and Jesus never promised us an easy way to go, but we seem intent on making our journey as comfortable and as trouble- and worry-free as we can possibly make it. But because all our attention in focused inward on our own comfort and well-being, we miss out on our greatest opportunities to share not only from our abundance but to also receive blessings beyond worldly measure. These blessings are the “feel good” things that make life worth all the trouble and the discomfort and the inconvenience we may encounter when we choose to share rather than to hoard. And lest we forget, choosing to hoard or to share has everything to do with how much faith we are willing to place in the Lord to see to our own needs. Like I stated earlier, what is truly important to us will be revealed in the decision we make to focus on the journey or on the destination.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to go to Heaven; it is a desire we should all share in common. We know all too well, however, that there are too many non-believers out there who are just not willing to make the journey with us. More is the pity, and the reasons why they would choose to reject our path are too numerous and often too vague to even worry about. Then again, when our time comes to account for our lives it is not likely the Lord is going to ask us to answer up for someone else’s refusal to join us. I think, instead, that He will be more focused on the journey we will have chosen. The reward, the Final Reward, will take care of itself by His Grace and His Grace ALONE.
Amen.
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