In his book, Talking to My Father, Ray Stedman tells of an old missionary couple retiring to New York after serving in Africa for many years. The reality of their retirement was that they had no pension and their health wasn’t great. As they faced their retirement years, they felt defeated, discouraged, and afraid. On the ship back to the States, they discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions. They watched the fanfare surrounding the President each day as the ship returned to New York. Eventually the old missionary said to his wife, “Something is wrong – why should we have given our lives in faithful service to God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip, and everybody makes much over him – but nobody gives two hoots about us.” Even though his wife admonished him, telling him that he shouldn’t feel that way, he confessed, “I can’t help it – it doesn’t seem right.”
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President, along with the mayor and other dignitaries. The papers were filled with articles of his trip and arrival back home, but no one noticed the elderly missionary couple. They slipped off the ship, rented a cheap apartment, and hoped they could find a way to make a living in the city.
One evening, reflecting on the fanfare accorded the President, the old missionary’s spirit broke as he said to his wife, “I can’t take this; God isn’t treating us fairly.” His wife replied, “Why don’t you go into the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?” He looked at his wife and said, “I think I will.”
A short time later he emerged from the bedroom with a completely different facial expression and attitude. His wife asked, “Dear, what happened?” With a smile he replied, “The Lord settled it with me. I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive such a tremendous homecoming when no one met us or even thanked us for the work we had done. When I finished, I waited for the Lord to speak and it seemed as if he put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, “But you’re not home yet!”
The Apostle Paul declared in Romans 8, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” And it was the Apostle Peter that reminds us in 2Pet.1:10-11, “Therefore, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Someone has cautioned Christians to not be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. There is truth in that statement, but the opposite is also true: don’t be so earthly minded that you are no heavenly good. May we always keep the main focus the main focus – to know Christ and to make Him known.
Always faithful,
Pastor Bill