Not desiring Heaven? Isn’t that— well, bad? Wrong? Even
sacrilegious? Isn’t it backwards?
Yes, it is— depending on how you look at it.
But, what if even Jesus didn’t desire Heaven? If you’re thinking that sounds totally
wrong, consider the following quote:
“Jesus did not count heaven a place
to be desired while we were lost.” —The
Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White, p. 375 [416-417].
Wow! Jesus could not be totally happy in a
perfect heaven while we were lost and miserable in a sinful world! Doesn’t that
show His amazing love for us? He didn’t want to stay in heaven if He could do
something to save us!
Yet. . . so often I want to stay in my
“comfort zone” while there is a perishing world about me. In my mind, reaching
out to others and helping them is beautiful, wonderful, even easy! But, when push comes to shove, I
freeze up and my mind goes blank. I can’t think of things to say to people. I
wonder if they’ll think I’m weird. Excuses stampede all around me, and I buy
them.
Of course, I can’t change the world. Only
Jesus can do that. But I can brighten the corner where I am. It can be a smile.
A cheery “Hello!”. Simply asking “Are you okay?” or “Do you need any help?”. Or
even just helping them if the need is fully apparent. It doesn’t have to be a
sermon. Or an evangelistic series. Or be branded “foreign missions”. But I do
need Jesus’ love in my heart. And His Holy Spirit.
My Mom works at a convenience store/gas
station. Obviously, she sees a lot people. It’s not a glamorous job. She
doesn’t make big money working there. Often her days are frustrating. But she
has touched people’s lives working there. Sometimes she only sees them once.
Sometimes they are what you could term “regulars”. Her outreach could just be
being kind to the grumpy “cigar guy”. Treating the “pizza guy” (who would take
food out of the warmers, take a bite, and stick it back in the warmer) with
respect. It may be buying gasoline for the lady who forgot her credit cards at
home, and is running on fumes, but lives at least a half hour away. It may be
sharing literature with the foreign student from Brazil who attends the academy
next door. Or giving a few cents to the Taiwanese student who needed it to make
his purchase.
Sometimes the
“little” things bring big returns. The grumpy “cigar guy” is not so grumpy
anymore. And the way he acts and treats people makes sense when one finds out
that his son committed suicide when he came back from Iraq. Hurting people hurt
people, and they need our kindness. The lady who forgot her credit cards was so thankful she wanted to pay my mother
for what she did! My mom refused the offer, and refused to tell the lady her
name for that reason. The lady found out my mother’s name anyway, and gave her
$10 to use to help someone else in real need, plus a gift certificate to a
local store. More than that, the lady was so touched!
One story in particular illustrates the
value of treating others as Jesus did:
On this particular day, the boss or the
assistant manager where my Mom works had lost and earing. They found the
earing, and my Mom was happy for them, not that she agrees with wearing
jewelry, but it’s nice when you find something you lost. Later, an older man
came in, and that day he had found his coffee card (when you get so many stamps
on this card, you can get a free coffee). She was happy for him, too. Then a
young man came in, and asked my Mom if she remembered him. He went on to tell
her that he had quit alcohol and drugs. My Mom said he looked so happy! It was
only after he left that she remembered who it was. Around when she had first
started working at the convenience store, she worked nights, and this guy had
come in with some other people, and wanted to buy cigarettes. My Mom asked him
for his ID (which he had forgotten), and he started to get very belligerent. He
wanted her to just let him buy the cigarettes. He got so bad that she had to
call the police on him!
Sometime after this, he came back in, but by
himself this time. When my Mom saw him she told him not to give her any trouble
because she would call the police again.
“No, no, ma’am! I wanted to apologize!” he
said.
“Okay, that’s fine!” my Mom replied.
Once he came in and had broken his arm, I
believe, and my mom expressed concern. That had a positive effect on him. Then
he came in and told my Mom that he had cleaned up his life! Maybe my Mom had
some part in it— but even if she didn’t have a part to play, if she had been
unkind to him, what effect would it have had? In the succession of “lost and
founds” that day, he was the one that truly mattered.
Jesus came to help
people. It didn’t matter how they would treat Him. Or what they would think of
Him. He came to save us, and that was His life mission. It should be our
mission, too, to share Him with others. It doesn’t have to be big or grand. It
can be small. But we should still share what we can, when we can. We should
even help the unpromising! Ecclesiastes 11:6 says “In the morning sow thy seed,
and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall
prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” And
Jesus said “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save
them” (Luke 9:56). We can work with Jesus in saving souls for His kingdom— they
will be the real riches there. Not the mansions. Not the crowns, robes, or
harps, even. Jesus will be our reward, and we will be His reward.
“He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).
“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3, emphasis
added).
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