Monday, September 2, 2019
668 - God's Country
Spirituality
Column #668
September
3, 2019
Common
Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
God’s Country
By Bob
Walters
“Christ died for our sins … he was buried …
he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and he
appeared to [Peter]” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-5
Um, no, this column isn’t about a
Blake Shelton country tune or a political comment. It’s about life today and forever in Jesus Christ.
They let me “preach” again at
Allisonville Meadows this weekend and I wanted to say something to them about
how Christians in our earthly walk often get so wrapped up in sin and
forgiveness that we ignore or forget about the truly wonderful and wide-ranging
spiritual bounty a life in Jesus affords believers in both this life and
beyond.
Heaven can seem so far off. But many folks can relate to somewhere they
have been – traveling, vacation, maybe lived there – that they wistfully and
maybe longingly call “God’s Country.”
It’s usually somewhere with lakes or mountains or forests or beaches or
rolling farm fields or starlit skies. It
is somewhere one has encountered God’s visible, humbling, beautiful, inspiring
Creation. It “speaks to us,” even from
afar, along with the life-affirming voices of family and loved ones with whom
we shared it.
For my wife Pam and me, “God’s
Country” is northern Michigan. She’s
originally from there, I vacationed there, her folks still live there, mine are
buried there, and for all the pleasing, sentimental, peaceful, adventurous, and
scenic aspects of that area, and our fondness for it in our hearts, one thing
we don’t dwell on much when we think of it as “God’s Country” is how
ridiculously far of a drive it is to get there.
I know, I know … I’m glad it’s not
Maine or Montana or the Carolinas. But
nonetheless … it is a ways. And here is
what occurred to me: the “sin and forgiveness” part of Christianity is the
necessary and sometimes very long road we must travel to bask in the very real
and promised peace, comfort, joy, and love of Christ.
“Christ died for our
sins”
we read in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
Sin is a big deal, and Paul is reciting here what is quite likely the
earliest of Christian “creeds” fashioned months after the Resurrection and two
decades before Paul wrote this letter. It
is the most basic Christianity: “He was
buried” – i.e., Jesus was really dead.
“He was raised” – i.e., Jesus
was really God. “He appeared” – Jesus was really alive. That’s the hard journey Jesus took – that we
must take in faith – but consider all that greets us.
We
find the beauty and grace of God’s Country.
We know of God’s love. We know
our original, created image-of-God relationship is restored because our sins
are covered by Jesus and the righteousness of Jesus is ours. We know God as the Father. We have fellowship with other believers. We have purpose in sharing the Lord’s Word
and His work. We are free from
punishment; we are free from the Law. We
have a sure and divine defense against Satan.
We see our fate; we will rise like Jesus, and we need not fear death. It is a long and glorious list, much of it
available even in this life.
Let us never measure our Christian
walk by the imagined penalty of our sin; we couldn’t bear it anyway. Focus on love, not lament, and rest in the
arms of our rescuer, the Risen Christ. Jesus
talks often of love, faith, and trust; rarely of forgiveness. He has taken away our sins; let them go. Psalm 23 assures that in this wonderful
Shepherd Jesus we may dwell in the House of the Lord, now and forever.
That’s
God’s Country.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) tried but couldn’t shake the Blake Shelton tune out of
his head while writing this … “The Devil went to Georgia but didn’t stick
around …” etc.