Living now — living forever ............. Parables 736

October 30, 2001

A Roman scholar named Cato started to study Greek when he was over eighty years old. Someone asked why he tackled such a difficult topic at his age. He replied, “It is the earliest age I have left.”

Cato was not the last of the spunky senior citizens. I attended a party for a woman celebrating her 105th birthday. With a twinkle in her eye, she supplied her own entertainment. She breezed through every song she knew on her harmonica and tossed out one-liners in between. She also took requests and if she didn’t know the song, she picked it up after someone hummed a few bars. This woman has Alzheimer’s disease and cannot remember what day it is—but she retains her storehouse of favorites and her huge sense of humor.

Another acquaintance is in his eighties. He rides his bicycle and participates in bicycle marathons, riding hundreds of kilometers in a summer. He too has a wonderful sense of humor.

A woman in our church is over ninety and just retired from work. My uncle is in his early eighties and just went back to work. Both walk tall and have a twinkle in their eyes.

These seniors value life and yet refuse to hoard it up for themselves. Their remaining years are dedicated to learning, growing, keeping active and blessing others. For them, life is lived to the full, much to the pleasure of those who know them.

While time may be short, for them it is not an issue. They have come to grips with Solomon’s words: “There is a season for everything: a time to be born and a time to die.” They realize time is a precious gift from God but are not anxious about it’s passing.

The Bible also says to “redeem the time for the days are evil.” Paul explains further: “The time is short . . . buy something as if it were not yours to keep . . . use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.”

The Bible tells us to utilize whatever things of the world we need but not clutch them to ourselves. God gave us “all things” to use and even enjoy, but we are not to make ‘things’ our chief concern. After all, they will pass away.

That statement is in contrast to most warnings about materialism and worldliness. Preachers and philosophers say, “You cannot take it with you” and focus on the fact that we will pass away. But instead, Paul says ‘things’ will pass away.

Even if we could take our stuff with us, we need to remember it is still temporary. ‘Things’ are not designed for eternity; they rot, rust, or fall apart.

Even our bodies age and die too, but God plans new bodies for His people, bodies that are “incorruptible.” He says, “mortals will put on immortality” and “death is swallowed up in victory.” Only people are designed to live forever. That does not happen to our stuff.

Most of my senior friends realize and live by the truth found in 2 Corinthians 4: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

For them, that eternal hope not only conquers death, it also changes life. It gives music to an aged woman who has forgotten everything else, mobility to an older man who wants to keep active, and meaningful work to two folks who are long past ‘normal’ retirement age.

This hope of eternal glory is available but we need to unclench our fists. We will last forever, but our stuff is doomed.

Blending in? ....................... Parables 113

The American chameleon never looks out of place. When he is surrounded by green trees, he turns green; on brown earth, he turns brown. This little lizard also enjoys a great degree of safety. His enemies cannot distinguish him from his environment, no matter what it is.

Most people prefer to blend in too, at least socially. We learn early to watch our hostess to see which fork to use first. We call ahead to find out what everyone else is wearing. The ability to adopt to the social norm is a desired skill and it is certainly more comfortable to be a chameleon than a social misfit who attends barbeques in formal evening wear.

An intellectual chameleon plays a less visible game. Imagine the challenge of sitting with several Einsteins discussing nuclear physics -- with an IQ of 73! Here silence might be the only hope of appearing to think as that crowd thinks! For most of us, it is far easier to fit in with the opposite extreme on the intelligence scale.

Emotional chameleons blend well, and there are more of them. They are the crowd in “crowd psychology,” the adoring fans that follow the idols. They respond to the mood generated by a charismatic leader such as Hitler, or to the emotionally-charged music beating from the stage of a rock concert. Emotions are the easier “color” for chameleons to copy.

What about spiritual chameleons? They keep a much lower profile than the groupies who follow popular bands. They effectively mimic “spiritual” jargon. They chat knowledgeably with theologians. They are able to make themselves comfortable in church fellowship . . .  these people are nice so they are nice.

But the spiritual chameleon is also at home with those who reject Christ. He is comfortable talking their language, saying their cuss words, behaving like they do when he is with them because this chameleon wants the best of both worlds. He wants acceptance with no pressure, no accountability. And because pagans and Christians (to our shame) seldom cross each others path, there is little danger of exposure. No one sees anything that doesn’t fit, that doesn’t conform. No one will discover his charade. This chameleon is safe . . .  or so he thinks.

Jesus said that His disciples “are in the world but not of the world.” Anyone who genuinely follows Christ is actually an alien, a citizen of a different kingdom. We live here, but we do not fit. We don’t fit because we have been made new - spiritually alive with the life of Christ. We think differently. We talk differently. We act differently. We are nonconformist . . .  and we better not act like chameleons.

Outward BEHAVIOR is generally a symptom of what is going on inside, but God is not fooled when the two don’t seem to match. He searches hearts and examines minds. A spiritual chameleon can appear righteous for a while, but God looks past his external “color” and judges his motives and intentions. As Jesus said, these things come out of the heart that defile a person. Eventually, any charade will be discovered. (Matthew 15:17-20)

Instead of blending in, Christ commands his people to be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God without fault -- in a corrupted world among whom we shine like stars” (Philippians 2). Paul said “Satan and his ministers transform themselves in apostles of light” so they will blend in, undetected. But it is God who transforms His people, not so we have power to change our “color” and blend into our environment, but so we will be like Jesus Christ and stand in sharp contrast to the corruption around us.