“This world is not my home; I’m just a-passin’ through.” If we belong to Christ, we identify with this sentiment. We confess that we are aliens and strangers in this world (Hebrews 11:13). We are here temporarily, looking towards the kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 5:1-4). And that’s a very comforting concept and promise to remember when we find ourselves in the midst of health problems, financial stress, relationship issues - troubles of many kinds. We know that this is all temporary. We’re just tenting - tabernacling - here. This is not going to last forever. And if we’re truly His, we wouldn’t really want it to.
And yet, we get distracted.
When my black labs were young, I would let them out of the house. They raced each other out of sight within seconds. It didn’t take very long before I realized I couldn’t let them do that. They would stay gone for hours, chasing rabbits and squirrels and investigating the myriad of delicious smells out there. Many were the days that I went looking for them. How disgusted I often was to find them (albeit relieved). Oh, they’d lift their heads to acknowledge that they saw me and heard me calling, but they were much too busy to actually come when I called.
Do you know people like that? Life is so good that they don’t really have time for God. They are happy doing what they’re doing. They have the misconception that a relationship with God is going to make their life less enjoyable, that they’ll be restricted from having fun. They think they are fine where they are; they don’t need God.
There is a contingent of people out there like that. But on the continuum, there are also people who know, intellectually, that God is good and that He is to be worshipped and obeyed. They just make one little choice here and another small choice over there - and building the relationship with God is not the priority. It’s more important, to them, to do this thing on the Sabbath. It’s more important to choose this activity over Bible study and prayer. They believe that life is good and their relationship with God is okay.
But all of us are tabernacling in this life. That means that we do experience problems. The car breaks down. Our bodies don’t work as well as they used to. We have unexpected money demands. We run into conflicts with the people around us. We have trouble. That’s life. Sometimes those troubles are a result of our sin. And sometimes they are part of living in a sinful world. Regardless, there’s stress.
When the labs were young, I could count on one stress that would cause them to return home as fast as their legs could carry them - if they heard a gun shot. Similarly, there are times in our lives when we experience something so terrifying that we immediately turn to God for help - regardless of the state of our relationship with Him. If, however, the stress isn’t too overwhelming, sometimes we just determine to persevere and to push through the trouble in our own strength. It might not even occur to us that our troubles would not seem so bad if we had our eyes fixed on the Master and had the confidence of a close relationship with Him.
All of these thoughts flashed through my head yesterday morning when I was walking the dogs. You see, now when I walk the dogs, I just open the door and let them all go. The labs still take off as if they were puppies, but they have aches and pains, and they don’t go so far anymore. They still want to smell all the smells and bark at the squirrels and the rabbits. But their bodies keep them more grounded. They end up walking most of the route with me each morning. The side benefit of that is the reception of treats from my pocket as we walk along the way. Furthermore, once the walk is over, they are content to lie on the front porch or in the front yard, on guard duty with each other. They may not have the bodies, energy, or wildness of youth, but my labs are happy.
I couldn’t help thinking of how much Christians are like that too. As these tabernacles, our bodies, slow us down with aches and pain, and as we experience the troubles of life, we realize that there are wonderful rewards in walking with Him. We have learned that a relationship with God is worth more than what we thought were the pleasures of this life. This maturation in our relationship with God means we are less likely to go our own way; we are more likely to heed His call to obedience. We find that there is contentment and quiet pleasures in an ever closer relationship with our God - regardless of the troubles we experience.
As we prepare for the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles, I’m going to be thinking about tabernacling in this life. I’m going to be contemplating how God has provided for me and led me along the way. I’m going to be considering my relationship with Him and how much I long for it to be more intimate. And I am going to remember to thank Him for being with me, being my God, as I tabernacle.
And yet, we get distracted.
When my black labs were young, I would let them out of the house. They raced each other out of sight within seconds. It didn’t take very long before I realized I couldn’t let them do that. They would stay gone for hours, chasing rabbits and squirrels and investigating the myriad of delicious smells out there. Many were the days that I went looking for them. How disgusted I often was to find them (albeit relieved). Oh, they’d lift their heads to acknowledge that they saw me and heard me calling, but they were much too busy to actually come when I called.
Do you know people like that? Life is so good that they don’t really have time for God. They are happy doing what they’re doing. They have the misconception that a relationship with God is going to make their life less enjoyable, that they’ll be restricted from having fun. They think they are fine where they are; they don’t need God.
There is a contingent of people out there like that. But on the continuum, there are also people who know, intellectually, that God is good and that He is to be worshipped and obeyed. They just make one little choice here and another small choice over there - and building the relationship with God is not the priority. It’s more important, to them, to do this thing on the Sabbath. It’s more important to choose this activity over Bible study and prayer. They believe that life is good and their relationship with God is okay.
But all of us are tabernacling in this life. That means that we do experience problems. The car breaks down. Our bodies don’t work as well as they used to. We have unexpected money demands. We run into conflicts with the people around us. We have trouble. That’s life. Sometimes those troubles are a result of our sin. And sometimes they are part of living in a sinful world. Regardless, there’s stress.
When the labs were young, I could count on one stress that would cause them to return home as fast as their legs could carry them - if they heard a gun shot. Similarly, there are times in our lives when we experience something so terrifying that we immediately turn to God for help - regardless of the state of our relationship with Him. If, however, the stress isn’t too overwhelming, sometimes we just determine to persevere and to push through the trouble in our own strength. It might not even occur to us that our troubles would not seem so bad if we had our eyes fixed on the Master and had the confidence of a close relationship with Him.
All of these thoughts flashed through my head yesterday morning when I was walking the dogs. You see, now when I walk the dogs, I just open the door and let them all go. The labs still take off as if they were puppies, but they have aches and pains, and they don’t go so far anymore. They still want to smell all the smells and bark at the squirrels and the rabbits. But their bodies keep them more grounded. They end up walking most of the route with me each morning. The side benefit of that is the reception of treats from my pocket as we walk along the way. Furthermore, once the walk is over, they are content to lie on the front porch or in the front yard, on guard duty with each other. They may not have the bodies, energy, or wildness of youth, but my labs are happy.
I couldn’t help thinking of how much Christians are like that too. As these tabernacles, our bodies, slow us down with aches and pain, and as we experience the troubles of life, we realize that there are wonderful rewards in walking with Him. We have learned that a relationship with God is worth more than what we thought were the pleasures of this life. This maturation in our relationship with God means we are less likely to go our own way; we are more likely to heed His call to obedience. We find that there is contentment and quiet pleasures in an ever closer relationship with our God - regardless of the troubles we experience.
As we prepare for the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles, I’m going to be thinking about tabernacling in this life. I’m going to be contemplating how God has provided for me and led me along the way. I’m going to be considering my relationship with Him and how much I long for it to be more intimate. And I am going to remember to thank Him for being with me, being my God, as I tabernacle.
RSS Feed