More than food and clothing

For life is more than food and the body more than clothing...Luke 12:23

Well, the wedding is over, the senior recital is played and done, and the relatives have come and gone. In all of life's events we seem to have 2 questions...what shall we wear and what will there be to eat? The senior recital was played in a floor length dress (though the professor pointed out that he could not get her to wear shoes under it...yes, she played barefoot!). The sash had to be picked up on the way so that the beading around the waistline would not scratch the euphonium she was playing, holding it up to her body while standing. There was cheesecake and fruit and some little cookie things, punch, and other things, though one cheesecake was a fatality when grandma missed the curb and face-planted in the parking lot at the apartment where we went to pick them up...nothing else was broken...

The wedding required the white dress, the bridemaids' dresses, the matching ties, a suit for dad and grey pants for the groomsmen. Everyone else dressed for the occasion...there were trips to the store to get mother-of-the-bride and mother-of-the-groom attire, and the groom's dad said he never paid more for that coral tie! There were invitations and RSVPs for what people wanted to eat at the reception...beef, chicken, salmon, or vegetarian fare. There were, of course, photographers, sound systems, a pastor, and other issues, but food and clothes were the 2 main ones, and everything else seemed to accompany those two. Pictures were of the cake and the people, the dresses and the rings. The reception venue caterered the food and drink.

So we have our focus...

But the day was really about so much more.

It was about joining 2 people together as a family unit, and it was about praising God who would make that happen. It could have happened without a white dress...it could have happened without food or cake, but they do set the tone for the event.

Several times it seemed that the focus veered off course a little. The ring bearer drew attention away from the bride decending down the ramp to the wedding site...I saw her because I knew she was coming...but some other people didn't see her until she hit the end of the aisle.

Herky the Hawk came to the reception and walked in during the first dance and dance of groom and mother...I don't think he meant to draw the attention away from the main event, but he did.

And this is how life is...we get our focus on the things that are secondary to the main event.

So if life isn't food and drink, what is it?

It is the kingdom of God. Seek the kingdom of God and all these other necessities and niceties will be added to us. It is knowing who God is, that He loves us and wants a personal relationship with us, and living to bring Him the glory through life on this earth. It is tending the needs of others, but doing it with the kindness and love of the Father who provides us the provision to give to them. It is calling people into relationship with Him as an ambassador from His kingdom to ours. 2^nd Corinthians 5:20 states this clearly...”Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf; so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Christ).”

So life is about being an ambassador for Christ. It is calling those who are estranged due to sin (that is ALL of us!) to turn back to God. Since Adam and Eve we have hidden ourselves from God. We are ashamed of our sinfulness and know that He is wholely other than what we are...I know that is a mouthful, but it is the truth...He is holy and we are not and we know it and we know He knows it and that without Him saying a word we stand guilty in His presence. God did not point their sin out to them...they left His presence because of their own guilt. And He called them back to Him. So those of us who have heard the call and come back with all our guilt and baggage and let Him clean us with the blood of Jesus have the pleasant, yet urgent, job of calling people back to God. It is a sacred calling. It is a humbling task. And it is our job as ambassadors to tell people that this kingdom is wonderful and opens its borders to all who would live under the reign of the merciful King. All we need do is present ourselves in our guiltiness and ask for mercy from Christ who died in our place. Did you really read the 2 Corinthians passage? God is appealing to you to COME...Revelations 22...the end of scripture has this same plea...COME! And we BEG you to be reconciled to Christ. No one wants to see their friends, family, and people they know go into a Christless eternity, to stand guilty before God without the merciful blood of Jesus over them.

Yes, life is about death...the death of Christ...to make our life one of uniting us as people into God's family...we are the bride of Christ, dressed in beautiful array for His pleasure. The wedding feast will be a greater spread than even my daughter's wedding. We will eat and drink without limit from the table of the groom...and that day will never end.

COME!