MORE THAN LEGAL REINSTATEMENT
I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter. Joel 2:25, R.S.V.
"I'll make it up to you!" Mother consoled her little daughter after telling her that a proposed trip to the ocean had been canceled. "We'll go another time."
Still distressed, the child wiped at her tears, hiccuping slightly as she spoke, "Will all the pretty shells still be there?" Assured once again by her mother, she toddled off to her sandbox, muttering under her breath, "Mommy and I will build castles. And we'll feed the sea gulls..."
Life in this world can be shattering. We may sustain losses that are far worse than postponed trips to the ocean, losses that are as forever gone as yesterday. Who can replace the loss of a son or daughter who died "out of the Lord"? Having grown up in a home filled with drunkenness and strife, who can go back and experience a happy childhood?
I believe that the wicked indulgences so prevalent today are stark evidence that people are trying to "make it up" to themselves for all the losses, great and small, sustained in their lives. The call to chaste living and to right concepts of Biblical doctrine draws relatively few from the masses. Why? Because the inherent message of self-denial threatens to further increase their sense of loss. Often those who do come to embrace Christianity accept forgiveness for their past sins in exchange for the hope of eternal life. Surely, that would "make it up" to them!
But is legal reinstatement into the community of heaven enough? Let's look again at the situation of the little girl mentioned above. Would she have been happy at the beach without her mother there to enjoy and participate in her activities--even if many other children were present? Was not the companionship with her mother what she hungered for more than mere permission to go to the ocean?
Friends, God has more to offer us than legal reinstatement into heaven. His plan is to "restore to [us] the years which the swarming locust has eaten"--and He knows our going to heaven is not enough in itself to accomplish this. We need Him! His companionship alone can heal our brokenness and relive our sense of loss.
God's message to the world is that He has given us Himself! And having Him, we shall desire nothing else on earth (Ps. 73:25, N.E.B.).
I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter. Joel 2:25, R.S.V.
"I'll make it up to you!" Mother consoled her little daughter after telling her that a proposed trip to the ocean had been canceled. "We'll go another time."
Still distressed, the child wiped at her tears, hiccuping slightly as she spoke, "Will all the pretty shells still be there?" Assured once again by her mother, she toddled off to her sandbox, muttering under her breath, "Mommy and I will build castles. And we'll feed the sea gulls..."
Life in this world can be shattering. We may sustain losses that are far worse than postponed trips to the ocean, losses that are as forever gone as yesterday. Who can replace the loss of a son or daughter who died "out of the Lord"? Having grown up in a home filled with drunkenness and strife, who can go back and experience a happy childhood?
I believe that the wicked indulgences so prevalent today are stark evidence that people are trying to "make it up" to themselves for all the losses, great and small, sustained in their lives. The call to chaste living and to right concepts of Biblical doctrine draws relatively few from the masses. Why? Because the inherent message of self-denial threatens to further increase their sense of loss. Often those who do come to embrace Christianity accept forgiveness for their past sins in exchange for the hope of eternal life. Surely, that would "make it up" to them!
But is legal reinstatement into the community of heaven enough? Let's look again at the situation of the little girl mentioned above. Would she have been happy at the beach without her mother there to enjoy and participate in her activities--even if many other children were present? Was not the companionship with her mother what she hungered for more than mere permission to go to the ocean?
Friends, God has more to offer us than legal reinstatement into heaven. His plan is to "restore to [us] the years which the swarming locust has eaten"--and He knows our going to heaven is not enough in itself to accomplish this. We need Him! His companionship alone can heal our brokenness and relive our sense of loss.
God's message to the world is that He has given us Himself! And having Him, we shall desire nothing else on earth (Ps. 73:25, N.E.B.).
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