Be Good and Wait

If you ever get a bunch of pastors together for a conversation, one of them inevitably will say something like “that’ll preach!” Like most other jobs, something you come across away from work unexpectedly reminds you of work, and sometimes you realize how you can apply that to your job. Pastors look for things to put into sermons, such as news stories, books or TV shows they like, and amongst many other things, movies.

The following movie clip has been percolating in my mind for many years, but I never found the opportunity to use it, but here it is. It comes from one of my all-time favorite movies, Little Big Man, which I fell in love with as a kid. It tells the story of a small white boy whose family was killed by Indians when they were travelling West in their covered wagon. He would be raised as an Indian, but over the course of his life would go back and forth between the world of the white man and that of the Indians, meeting such people as Wild Bill Hickok and General Custer, as well as living with and loving, but also fighting with, many Native Americans. This is the final scene of the movie, when his adopted grandfather, Old Lodge Skins, has decided it is time to die. His people, whom he calls “The Human Beings”, have been mostly wiped out, and he doesn’t want to live in a world where his people no longer belong.

https://youtu.be/93PBNHXXWWs

We aren’t told where their lives go from here. Can anyone relate to how Old Lodge Skins feels? That the world has passed you by, the old ways no longer work, and you no longer have a place in this world? That you have lived enough here, and are ready to go to Heaven? Or if you are not quite at that point, perhaps it is time to move on, perhaps something has come to a sudden end, but you haven’t quite figured out the next step. Is it the end, or is it a new beginning?

Certainly, St. Paul had seen much of this world, and had suffered greatly along the way, all in service to Jesus and His people. He is ready to move on, but has to wait; and unlike most of us, has already seen where he is going, but is willing to stay if his churches still need him. He writes:

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord -- for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Cor 5:6-9)

We may not be “at home with Lord” just yet but we are with Him in the Spirit, not in the body but inside in our hearts. Even though we are not yet with Him in Heaven, we seek to remain faithful to Him as if we were, making our highest aim to live in a manner pleasing to Him. Certainly that will be easier once we are with Him, away from sin and temptations, so we spend this current life preparing for that day when we can put behind the cares and suffering of this world. As Paul says:

For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. (2 Cor. 5:10-11)

Some may have ample reasons to fear that day, but those of us who belong to Jesus don’t, for His righteousness covers our sins. We usually think of Judgement Day as being highly personal, as each of us has our lives summarized and evaluated, but we don’t try to be good just for that day, but for every day. Judgement Day should inspire us to be better now. We set an example for others, seeking to reach them for Christ through our faithful witness and acts of service. We too want to be well known by God and His people, hopefully for the good things that we do and the good people that we are. Paul continues:

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Cor. 5:14-17)

We are to live for Christ and for His people. Where we get into trouble is when we get too wrapped up in ourselves, wanting everything our way, even here at church. We look at each person as a child of God, worthy of love and respect, not as obstacles or problems or as disposable. We may still see things we don’t appreciate in others, but they are new creations in Christ, and are waiting to be made perfect through God’s grace. Some of us just need a little more of that grace than others! But it is to that power in Jesus to make all things new that we testify and glorify. Paul continues:

So we are ambassadors, speaking on behalf of the Messiah, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore people on the Messiah’s behalf to be reconciled to God. The Messiah did not know sin, but God made him to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might embody God’s faithfulness to the covenant. (2 Cor. 5:20-21)

We don’t just speak about God’s grace, we live it, embodying it, showing it to all people in our daily lives, not just on Sunday. As God is eternally faithful to the covenant He has made with us, we are to be faithful to Him, and live accordingly. We may have to wait to see the fruits of our faithfulness, but we continue to make daily choices according to the will of God, offering Him our gratitude and praying for His will to be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

In Little Big Man, Grandfather has that wondrous line: “Well, sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t.” Do you ever feel that way about God? Perhaps you have prayed and prayed about something, but haven’t gotten an answer? Walking in faith means praying and doing things for God without really thinking about the results: we do all things for the glory of God in service to Him and His people and let Him do what He wants with our efforts. Living in faith often doesn’t mean adding things to our lives, it means letting go of the things that hinder us from walking more closely with Jesus.

Before the pandemic, you used to hear people often say: “hurry up and wait,” especially anything dealing with the government. With everything on hold, no one seems to be saying that anymore. We are all waiting, we have gotten used to waiting and probably don’t feel a need to hurry with things so uncertain. Maybe soon! In light of the teachings of St. Paul, it seems more appropriate to say: “Be good and wait.” As long as we live in this world, and the older I get, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of need to hurry anymore. Seeking to be good, according to the teachings of Jesus, is our main pursuit, and doing so will take up our entire lifetime. It can be a slow process, being a walk, not a run, usually, day by day.

Since we walk by faith and not by sight, we seek to make our faith as firm and courageous as possible. Some things we do in faith we won’t see the fruits of within this lifetime, we just plant those seeds and commend them to God. As our Lord said:

With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." (Mark 4:30-33)

Perhaps you are tired of hearing this example, but it is something we can all relate to, even us city-dwellers. Whether we are at the beginning of something in this life or at the end, the fruit will come in God’s timing, so sometimes in living by faith, we act without seeing the results. That is how the Kingdom of God works, starting from something tiny, but growing larger than we ever imagined, often while we aren’t looking. People come and go in our lives, and we won’t know until we get into Heaven what kind of impact we had for Christ here. Let us pray that we will meet many souls in Heaven who thank us for their being there, and that that number will be far higher than we ever expected!

We of course expect a lot from God, but usually have to wait for His timing. Have you ever prayer for something, didn’t get it, and then later realized you didn’t really need it or that God had something better in store for you? We are all in that in-between-time. We act in faith, and will have to wait to see the results.

We can be confident that we are getting the upper hand against Covid, but will have to wait see what our world will be like as more restrictions are relaxed. We are waiting for many other things to be realized here, and we wait to see what is on the other side of this life. Sometimes we are anxious to pass on, sometimes not. What will be is up to God, and until we get there, we keep trying to be faithful in what we have been assigned to for now, knowing that better things shall come soon.