Have you ever wondered about the beatitude “blessed be the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”? And what about that eerie; “those who love their life will lose it.”?
Every generation is raised under the fear of something. I remember a song on Michael W Smith’s (now tragically dated) self titled album which referred to the terror of my generation; the threat of nuclear holocaust as being part of God’s plan to bring our current history to it’s inevitable apocalyptic end. I was scared!.. Really scared!! I thought I was going to die before I ever kissed a girl! And, do you know what? I didn’t. (Die that is…I did kiss a girl)… Phew!
Since then there has been 9/11 and then the global recession, and of course ISIS! Not to mention the whole greenhouse thing hanging insidiously over our heads and the perilous link of that to an alarming frequency of extreme and devastating weather events!
Now though, I’ve finally figured it out. The only people who worry about losing stuff are the ones with lot’s of stuff to lose. Jesus says, “Can anyone by worrying add a single hour to their life?” You see, if we are worried about the end of the world, I wonder if we’ve kind of placed our worry eggs in the wrong basket?
Rev. Michael Duke
Kingston UCA