Wednesday, February 17, 2016

a moment in time








“Live for today, and don’t worry about tomorrow..” an old sixties tune warned us.  The time is now, and make the most of it.  Great advice if you are not planning on being here tomorrow, but since most of us are, we need to take better care of today.  Yet we tend to live for the moment, thinking of our lives as a snapshot in time, as opposed to a movie.  A full length movie of epic proportions, like Gone With the Wind, with an intermission.  But we cannot think ahead, only look forward to what is in it for us today, as we only look behind, and don’t realize how the past can impact our future.  Our even right now, today.  As I look around at many old riders, I see too many who look older than they are, the lifestyle they once lived has caught up to them, and they pay the price.  Maybe not in length of years, but in quality.  Some who lived like hell and look like it, had no inkling of tomorrow, but now are examples of “I wish I had taken better care of myself, I didn’t realize I was going to live this long.”  But as we look at old photos, they turn into movies in our mind, as we remember, but when looking at movies, we wish we could stop the action, and take a closer look.  But the scene plays out too fast, and as we watch over and over trying to catch a glimpse, the action is too fast, only a photo would do.
But what if our lives were defined as a photo?  What would that photo tell about us?  About the time and place?  Many first impressions are like that, a photo taken out of context, and a history is built around it.  See me on a Harley and you may think I ride them, if that is the only photo.  But out of sight may be my Honda, Suzuki, or even a car.  You don’t see Bill in the background who owns the bike, and is taking the picture.  See a sunny day in New Jersey and we all may think it is appealing, but one photo of being stuck on the Turnpike a few miles away will give a totally different opinion.  Our minds may be wide angle lens, but the pictures they take and remember are not.  And so it can be when we go on vacation, and fall in love with a new area for the first time.  The weather is great, the people friendly, gas is cheaper, housing too, and let’s move to paradise.  But then the movie unfolds after a few days, the new wears off, and we see the crime, the potholes, the cloudy days, and economy for what it is.  And suddenly there is no place like home, and we are glad this isn’t it.  But the houses look so great in the photos, until you see the neighborhood.  Now you can understand the price much better.  Or why there is no Walmart, and McDonalds is where the elite go to eat.  Real life, real communities, real people.  They call it home, we are just passing through.  And the dream fades into darkness....
One visit to church and you might meet the nicest people.  Friendly, outgoing, persuasive in their love of Christ, but you are only seeing a moment in time of them.  What seems so perfect really has its problems too.  Kids wanting to rebel, the man next you may be out of work.  The BMW you park next to may be about to be repossessed, and the worship leader may have cancer.  But for one shining moment in time, all was perfect.  Only over time will the cracks in the lives show.  I have been told if I ever find the perfect church don’t attend, because then it won’t be.  Good advice, for all of us.  But we tend to place our views of God on the church, which has had a rough history, as have many of us.  We look to a pastor to be all knowing, have the best advice, and always be available to us, and heaven help him when he isn’t.  He may represent God, as we are to, but when he fails the church takes on a bad taste.  Our witness is that important, and it should point to God.  Our lives in tough times reveal our true character, and a moment in time when we fail may paint us as just another loser Christian, when really we aren’t.  Or are we, because we daily need Jesus with us.  Is it not true that his strength is made perfect in our weakness?  Doesn’t God tell us to be still and know he is God?  Weren’t we all sinners who need a savior?  Maybe that person in the photo you look down upon was you, or still is you?  Do you see yourself as we do, as God does? 
Have you ever been to a funeral where the deceased wasn’t a great person?  And wonder as they talk about him “did I wonder into the wrong funeral?”  We knew them when they were alive, who are they talking about?  Do only good people, people with friends die, who have poor memories when it comes to remembering?  If you had one photo to show of your life, what would it be, and what would it say?  Maybe if we looked at each other as God sees us, we may have a different attitude.  He sees us as sinners who have fallen away, and need a way back.  His love so great he sent Jesus to die for the sin we couldn’t pay for.  And when we repent, he looks at us as if we never sinned.  Perfect in his eyes, no matter our past, we are forgiven.  We change, he doesn’t, or his love for us.  A picture maybe we need to post on our Facebook, a sinner saved by grace.  If God was to do your funeral, what would he say?  Would you be the same person he described and knew, or would the audience be surprised?  What legacy does your life tell about Jesus?
Does your photo album reflect Christ in it?  What does it say about him?  When we read the scriptures we see ourselves, and how Christ changes lives.  Has he changed ours, or are we still the photo in darkness, or out of focus?  Does a close up reveal the pains of life, or the joy of Jesus?  If they made your life would Jesus star in it?  Who would be worthy to play you?  What moment in time would you want on the movie posters?
Today we all have a chance to be that first impression of Jesus that people see.  We can be the truth because he lives in us.  Not a perfect life, but some scars that show, that show how Jesus took you through.  The best reading is about the toughest trials.  Too many Christian films do not reflect the lives we live.  We aren’t perfect, we still live in a fallen world, and one photo can mislead.  So can one action....something to remember.  When traveling or in church.  In line at the store after.  When choosing a bike to sit on.  Or even if we ride at all.  We are photos of the kingdom of heaven, God’s photo album that he cares to share with a lost and dying planet.  To reveal himself through, and to act as missionaries of his gospel.   One moment in time may change your eternity, or someone else’s.  At my age I have more years to look back on than to look ahead for.  If it was about time, it is about time I do something about it.  But I know who holds my future, and my eternal address.  A place where no photos would do it justice, a place I long for daily.  A place where we see Jesus face to face.  Where we are among friends, and for eternity, that one shining moment will always be paradise.  There is no place like home when we know it is heaven.  So live for today, with concern for tomorrow. Today was tomorrow yesterday.  We will spend the rest of our lives in the future, we only need to get there.  Where a perfect church will be, and people like me are welcome and accepted.  Saved by grace, for eternity is a moment in time that lasts forever.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com