December 5, 2004

 

How many of you can remember being an unborn baby?None of you?And yet, we all were, at one point, living in our mother’s dark womb.That’s right.For our first nine months of existence, we were all curled up in the fetal position, with little room to spare.The walls around us were very close.It may give us claustrophobia now, but we didn’t know there was any more space in the world to be had.We couldn’t even straighten out our legs and arms, but we never knew what it was like to straighten out legs or arms.To be honest, I don’t think we even knew what these things were that would brush past our face from time to time!We certainly couldn’t walk or run or jump.We couldn’t even imagine activity like that.We were just pretty happy sitting there curled up.We didn’t know there was anything better to do.

It was dark.There was nothing to see.But that didn’t bother us, because we had never seen anything before, and did not even have a clue we were missing anything.Being in the darkness didn’t bother us.We never got to eat anything, or enjoy fine cuisine.Our nutrition simply came from a tube, but we didn’t know about anything better.We were happy simply to have a source of nourishment.We didn’t know what it was like to breathe air.We were engulfed in fluid.But again, we didn’t know anything different.We were warm and comfortable, and probably thought we had it pretty good.

Now, we didn’t always like the food we got.And we would maybe try to react to let whoever it was know that.But we weren’t sure if anyone was ever listening or not.It seemed we eventually got what we needed.We did get jostled around from time to time, and maybe we dealt with it by kicking back a bit, but there wasn’t much we could do to change our circumstances.We learned that again and again.

There was no one to talk to – to share our troubles and worries about the future with.But no matter… we didn’t know how to talk anyway! Life certainly had its pains and difficulties.But, for the most part, we were happy, and since we had no idea about what was in store for us, we thought that life was OK.What more could you ask for.We knew we were being taken care of.We didn’t know everything about the one taking care of us, but we were pretty sure it was this tube connected to us, and we were pretty thankful for that tube.We tried letting that tube know we loved it by taking good care of it.

Until one day.All of a sudden, our world literally began “caving in” around us.Those once soft walls began hardening up!Our world began shaking.We began getting pushed downward into a painful hole.Everything hurt!We began panicking!What is happening to my life?My world?The comforting warm atmosphere surrounding us was suddenly gone.And finally, after a harsh and painful experience, the only life we ever knew was gone.Over with.

We took our first breath.For the first time, air in our lungs!The voices we once heard now sounded completely different, and more clear than we could have ever imagined!Above all, there was a light – brighter than we could ever imagine!We couldn’t even open our eyes right away to take it all in because it was too bright!We were being carried now by something we never felt before.Loving hands.And then – we were brought to the one who really had been taking care of us!This was now the most amazing moment of our lives!We thought we had known all about our care-giver!We had pretty much visualized our care giver as a “tube” which brought us what we needed and took away what we didn’t.But now, our care-giver, our lover, held us close to her heart and we looked at her face!It was so much different and so much more wonderful than we could have ever imagined!We never, ever again, wanted to leave the presence of our Care-giver, the one who would now love us for life!

Now, we just began experiencing real life!It was so much more than we could have ever imagined as we lived inside our mother’s womb!

Friends, our transition from womb to this life could not be a more fitting metaphor of our transition from this life to the next.This past week, it was my privilege to observe both of these passages that God has intended for all of us.I got to see, by God’s grace, my little daughter leave her home in the womb and enter life in this world.I can’t tell you how much I am rejoicing for this gift!Earlier in the week, I got to be with Pat Germain’s family as she left her life here in this world, and went to her real home in heaven.Again, I rejoiced beyond words!

There will come a day for each one of us when we leave this world.We think life is pretty good here.We enjoy it.It has its struggles, but for the most part, we are taken care of.There are so many things we can’t do, but since we can’t even imagine not being able to do them, we don’t know what we are missing.We think we can see all there is, but we have NO IDEA what we will see when we get to the other side.We have no idea about the kind of light we have to look forward to there!We think we know our care-giver and Maker, and we do, but only in part.It won’t even compare to the day we see Him face to face!

And one day, for each of us, there will come a time when our world caves in around us.It may be painful.It may not be.It usually is.The passage of what we call death.Leaving the world we are pretty comfortable in.But when we get to the other side, the glory that awaits us there will simply be beyond our imagination!The light, blinding!Best of all, we will be placed into the arms of our Lover, our Care-giver, our Maker.The One who has been loving us all along.And there will be no moment like that one!Finally, we will be able to look back and see what this life was all about!Our real home, the kingdom of heaven, has come!

Friends, there isn’t much a baby can do to prepare for that time.When it’s baby’s time to come, it is baby’s time to come.No one can stop that.And when it is our time to go to our next home, it is our time.No one on this earth can stop that.But – there is something we can do to prepare for that!John the Baptist, who was sent to prepare people for the coming of the kingdom of heaven, for the coming of Jesus, prepared people with this message: “REPENT!”

You see, Jesus was coming to make things possible for us to go from this life to an eternal life with God.He was coming to live the perfect life we couldn’t, and then suffer death, separation from God on the cross, to remove the barrier of guilt that separated us and God.And to make us ready for Jesus to come, we had to realize that we had failed God with our thoughts, words, and actions, and that we NEEDED a Saviour.We prepare for Christmas with decorations.The most important decoration for Christ-mas, however, is REPENTANCE.

Repentance means:Being sorry that we have failed God.Admitting that we have and taking responsibility for it.And then, trusting in Jesus that He has paid the price for us, and we are forgiven!Repentance is sorrow for sin and faith in Jesus Christ.When that attitude decorates our hearts and lives, then we are ready for Christ to come!This is our best Advent preparation!Then we are ready for Christ to come and assure us of forgiveness and take us to our real home!We are ready for the kingdom of heaven.

Friends, REPENT!Jesus is coming!As comfortable as you are in this life, please be assured that there is something more!Just because you can’t see it now, doesn’t mean it’s not true!Trust me, I have seen that this week!Be sorry for how you have grieved God!Realize that you are not perfect!Tell God you are sorry.And friends, trust that He has forgiven you through Jesus.Know that your Maker loves you and wants you to live forever with Him!So now, go and live differently!Cut out your sinful ways!Stop doing the things that would anger or disappoint God!Repentance brings about a change in attitude and a change in life!And that kind of decoration is the best way that you could prepare for Christmas this year!Better yet, that kind of decoration is the best way that you could prepare for your passage to life eternal someday!We are so prone to wander away from God, and need an attitude of daily repentance!

It was a bright Sunday morning in 28th century London, but Robert Robinson’s mood was anything but sunny. All along the street there were people hurrying to church, but in the midst of the crowd, Robinson was a lonely man. The sound of church bells reminded him of years past when his faith in God was strong and the church was an integral part of his life. It had been years since he set foot in a church—years of wandering, disillusionment, and gradual defection from the God he once loved. That love for God—once fiery and passionate—had slowly burned out within him, leaving him dark and cold inside.

Robinson heard the clip-clop, clip-clop of a horse-drawn cab approaching behind him. Turning, he lifted his hand to hail the driver. But then he saw that the cab was occupied by a young woman dressed in finery for the Lord’s Day. He waved the driver on, but the woman in the carriage ordered the carriage to be stopped. “Sir, I’d be happy to share this carriage with you,” she said to Robinson. “Are you going to church?” Robinson was about to decline, then he paused. “Yes,” he said at last. “I am going to church.” He stepped into the carriage and sat down beside the young woman.

As the carriage rolled forward Robert Robinson and the woman exchanged introductions. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes when he stated his name. “That’s an interesting coincidence,” she said, reaching into her purse. She withdrew a small book of inspirational verse, opened it to a ribbon-bookmark, and handed the book to him. “I was just reading a verse by a poet named Robert Robinson. Could it be…?”He took the book, nodding. “Yes, I wrote these words years ago.” “Oh, how wonderful!” she exclaimed. “Imagine! I’m sharing a carriage with the author of these very lines!” But Robinson barely heard her. He was absorbed in the words he was reading. They were words that would one day be set to music and become a great hymn of the faith, familiar to generations of Christians:“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace’ Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. His eyes slipped to the bottom of the page where he read: Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it— Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

He could barely read the last few lines through the tears that brimmed in his eyes. “I wrote these words—and I’ve lived these words. ‘Prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love.’” The woman suddenly understood. “You also wrote, ‘Here’s my heart, O take and seal it.’ You can offer your heart again to God, Mr. Robinson. It’s not too late.” And it wasn’t too late for Robert Robinson. In that moment he turned his heart back to God and walked with him the rest of his days.

Friends, it is never too late for us to REPENT, to turn back to God.The time for repentance is every day.Every day is a day to get ready for Jesus to come.Every day is a day to get ready for our transition into the next world.Every day is a day to get ready for Christmas.And the best Christmas decoration is A Repentant Heart!Amen.

 

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