My last article told you about my new purchase of a newer less-used Prius than the one I had. This one has 100,000 less miles driven on it. One of the things that I lost in the trade-in was my Jack-in-the-box antennae ball that helped me find my car in parking lots. So on Saturday I went to a Jack-in-the-Box to get a new one. When I talked to the person-in-the-speaker-box to ask if they had any she said that they were out. So I just ordered a small Diet Dr. Pepper. When I got to the window-in-the-box the smiling person-in-the-box said, “I found one!” Not only did she give me the antennae ball, she gave my Diet-Dr. Pepper for free!
Some days it’s good to be … a child of the King.
Part of last Sunday’s epistle lesson said that 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[h] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[i] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.
An heir is someone who inherits what someone else has left for them. An heir is someone who is included in someone else’s will. As a follower of Jesus I am included is God’s will. What I have received because I follow Jesus is far more valuable than any monetary, temporal goods that could be left to me in any earthly Last Will and Testament.
The passage that Paul wrote to his friends in Rome doesn’t end with verse 17. Paul, one who was shipwrecked, snake bit, imprisoned, beaten, and martyred for his faith, continued with the further clarification in verse 18,
“But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
Suffering is a part of living. It is a part of following Jesus. Jesus suffered. Jesus calls us to follow him. It will involve suffering. Our world is suffering. We lose loved ones. One day, we will be one that our loved ones will lose. I cling to the promise that the suffering we endure now is “nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
Until later comes, there are days when we get glimpses of that glory. It can be something as brilliant as a beautiful sunrise….or sunset. It can be as warm as greeting someone who can only smile with their eyes because they are wearing a physical mask. It can be something as simple as a free Jack-in-the-box antennae ball with a small Diet Dr. Pepper … to boot. Those are mere foretastes of what I will receive when those who follow me will hear when a lawyer reads to them my … last will and testament.
Joyful Life Lutheran Church 