Matthew 24:36-44
What a fine looking group of people … like Lake Wobegon, where all the men are strong, the women good looking, and all the children above average.
What a fine looking group … although it may have something to do with the fact that I cleaned my glasses before worship … it’s amazing how much better the world looks through clean glasses.
Glasses rarely get dirty all at once … they get dirty over a period of time … slowly … grit and grime … one day at a time … and we get used to it … until one day Donna looks at me and says, “How in the world can you see anything out of those filthy glasses?”
And I’ll take ‘em off and look at ‘em, and she’s right – they’re filthy … so I clean ‘em, put ‘em back on … and the world is a better place … because I cleaned my glasses.
Which reminds me …
John went to visit his 90-year old grandfather in a backwater region of Georgia.
The first morning, John's grandfather prepared bacon, eggs and toast. But John noticed a film on his plate, and asked his grandfather, "Are these plates clean?"
His grandfather replied, "They're as clean as cold water can get ‘em. Just you go ahead and finish your meal, Sonny!"
For lunch the old man made hamburgers. Again, John was concerned about the plates as his appeared to have tiny specks around the edge that looked like dried egg and asked, "Are you sure these plates are clean?"
Without looking up the old man said, "I told you before, Sonny, those dishes are as clean as cold water can get ‘em. Now don't you fret, I don't wanna hear another word about it!"
Later that afternoon, John was on his way to a nearby town and as he was leaving, his grandfather's dog started to growl, and wouldn't let him pass. John yelled out, "Grandfather, your dog won't let me get to my car".
Without diverting his attention from the football game he was watching on TV the old man shouted ...
"COLDWATER, GO LAY DOWN
Clean plates … clean glasses …
Who doesn’t need a little cleaning up now and then … a good scrubbing of the attitude … a little dry cleaning for the mind … stain remover on the soul.
Jesus said: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22-23).
“Healthy eyes” … the Greek word for healthy can also mean generous …
Healthy eyes: I will see things as God sees them … I will look at the world with generous thoughts … I will look at people and give ‘em a break … I will not expect too much, and I will forgive quickly.
By the way, where will the USC Trojans play football next year: at the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl?
A fan who goes to both venues was asked about it: “Well, parking’s bad at both, lots of things are needed … but as long as the concrete doesn’t hit me on the head, I’m okay … I just don’t expect too much, and then I have a good time.”
“I just don’t expect too much, and then I have a good time!”
Expectations …
Two weeks ago, fog cancelled flights out of LA – passengers were outraged … about what? The fog?
Airline travel … smaller seats, and now they’re even taking away the pretzels …
Andrew Robert Thomas, an assistant professor of business at the University of Akron says: “… the cattle-class experience has contributed to the rise and intensity of air rage incidents all over the world.”
“With the cutbacks continuing and the number of air travelers projected to triple in the next 20 years, air rage will be a problem for the foreseeable future.”
Air rage … road rage … what’s next, pew rage?
It’s already with us … at my former church in Detroit, a young family joined the church, enrolled in Bible study, became deacons … served the LORD with gladness.
One day, we were having coffee, and they said, “Tom, we have a funny story to tell you. When we were first started attending, we settled into a pew one Sunday, when along came Peggy, and she looked at us, and said, ‘That’s my pew; you’ll have to move’ and we did.”
Last week, pulled up behind an SUV, a rear-window decal – “Back off, I’m Grumpy” … with the Walt Disney character from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
One of my favorite Civil War writers, Bruce Catton, tells of the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination … how Secretary of War Stanton fanned flames of resentment against the South … Stanton and others couldn’t let go of their ill-will … Catton refers to them as “bitter-enders” … a term from the Boer Wars in South Africa – those who fought to the bitter end.
If any of us want to get upset, we can do it … there are lots of upsetting things …
But I don’t wanna be Grumpy … I don’t wannna be a bitter-ender … I don’t wanna be outraged by the fog!
I want to have a generous eye!
I want to have what Paul had when he wrote: “I have learned to be content with what I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty” (Philippians 4:11-13).
A generous eye … Paul writes to the church in Ephesus:
“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up … so that your words may give grace to those who hear … put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander … be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Philippians 4:29-32).
A generous eye …
Everything I read about the character of life: practice now a positive attitude … because you never know when you’ll need it.
“No one knows the day or the hour,” says Jesus.
So be ready … keep awake …
Life is full of surprises …
Good and bad surprises …
So be ready!
Jesus tells a story … ten bridesmaids waiting for the party to begin … it was late, and no party, so they took a nap.
But in the middle of the night, the groom shows up and the party begins.
Five bridesmaids had oil for their lamps, and turned them up …
The other five didn’t
Have enough oil,
So they asked to borrow some.
But the oiled five said, “Can’t do it. If we give our oil to you, no one will have enough. Go out and buy your own.”
Seems harsh … but they illustrate a principle: You can’t borrow a positive attitude.
You have to get your own!
It’s not hard … “go out and buy your own.”
We’re like those bridesmaids – we have oil, or we don’t!
When Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge, he’s bound in chains, ledgers, cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, deeds and heavy purses, all wrought in steel.
Scrooge asks what it means … Marley replies:
“I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”
To forge a godly life … a generous life … grace, mercy and peace; faith, hope and love; kindness, gentleness and patience.
Mary Oliver writes about prayer:
It doesn’t have to be
The blue iris, it could be
Weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
Small stones; just
Pay attention; then patch
A few words together and don’t try
To make them elaborate, this isn’t
A contest, but the doorway
Into thanks, and a silence in which
Another voice may speak.
(from Oprah, Dec. 2007)
The doorway into thanks!
A very dear friend lost his wife to cancer recently, after a 4 1/2 year battle – in an email, he wrote:
“As you can imagine it's been a roller-coaster lately. So many layers to this whole scenario - some more emotional than others (try deleting your wife's voice from your voice mail greeting - it took a couple tries to get through that). At the end of the day, no one wants to be the one left behind, but that is the reality of the deal we enter into. As I told Shirley shortly before her last time in the hospital - I would do it all over again, even knowing the ending. It was that good.”
I think of George and Dorothy Wetters, 58 years married … fit together like peanut butter and jelly … after a time, Dorothy died.
I wondered how it would be for George … I’d stop by his home, or he’d stop by the church … always the same: “How I miss her. But I had her 58 years … I am so grateful.”
George’s mind began to slip; he moved into assisted living … when I visited him, the same words, “How I miss her, but I had her 58 years. I’m so grateful!”
A long-time married man was asked if he had a secret … “Yup, I have a secret … every morning, I stand in front of the mirror and say to myself, ‘Harry, you ain’t no bargain.’”
Joel Osteen recently said about marriage: “The next time you find yourself critical of your wife’s faults, remember, it was those faults that kept her from finding a better husband.”
Build a positive attitude – go out and buy oil for your lambs!
Walk through the doorway of thanks … stay close to Jesus … fill your heart and mind with words of assurance:
“I am with you always.”
“I will never leave you or forsake you.”
“Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”
“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
A generous eye …
A positive attitude …
When life springs a surprise on you,
you’ll be ready …
more than ready,
to live your best life!
Amen!
