My Granny from Alabama was an excellent cook. Before, my brothers and I had gotten up from the pallets we had slept on the night before, we could already hear Granny rattling skillets. It wasn’t long before the grown-ups were up, dressed, sipping coffee and discussing how they had slept. In time a few whiffs of the fresh cured sausage, smoked bacon, grits, eggs, and homemade biscuits pulled us from the covers and into the den to watch TV.
By now, the grown ups had begun reading the newspaper. Before breakfast, they had discussed the major issues of the day. Soon everyone was stuffed. The women begin clearing the table and once the dishes had been washed by hand; my Granny would commence with preparing of a dinner meal, for the lunch hour. We kids would by this time have found our way outside to toss a ball, explore a field, or watch the grass grow. (My parent’s favorite past time suggestion for us!) We knew the drill to come.
A delicous lunch would be followed by a rest, or short nap. It seemed strange to that the grown ups needed to rest when they hadn't done anything? Rest from what we kids were never quite sure. At any rate, by two thirty or three at the latest it was snack time. That always consisted of a homemade cake or two, a cobbler, or fresh tarts. Our favorite was the lane cake.
I guess looking back now, it could have been the sugar high that made us so antsy. At any rate my brothersand I always had the suitcases packed and waiting by the door long before snack time had commenced.
All these thoughts of reminiscing started me thinking the other day. Aren’t many of us taking this same posture when it comes to going home to Heaven? We would all like to go there one day; but just because JESUS is our Ticket, do we have to be just sitting around and waiting to go? Doesn’t He have prayers that need to be prayed? Aren’t there missionaries that need to be sent? Can’t ministries still be discovered? Won’t people all around us always need the Good news and a positive word of encouragement?
In John 5:16 we find Jesus even working on the Sabbath. In verse 17 His response to the Jew was simple: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
Jesus himself warns us in John 9:4: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Too often I get tired or bored and want to take a break. We don’t find Jesus sitting on his suitcase waiting to go back to Heaven. In John 4:34 Jesus likens his ministry to being like the necessary food he ate just to stay alive. Jesus honors His Father in John 17:4 as he proclaims: “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
Throughout the New Testament the apostle Paul continually exhorts us to complete the work God has given each of us to do. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 he says, “stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." It will soon be time to go, but in the meantime there is much to be done!
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