Message by Gerda VanStralen
Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:13-18
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
Happy Holidays
Happy New Year! Maybe it is getting to be too late to give that greeting anymore. When I look back on the last few months, it seems like I have been giving greetings for a long time. It started at Halloween – Happy Halloween! Then we slid into Thanksgiving – Happy Thanksgiving! Then Christmas – Merry Christmas! And then, finally, Happy New Year! So many greetings to so many people but, what do we mean by those words or those wishes?
I guess we are wishing good things for people, things that will make them happy. And what makes people happy? What do they want? Wealth? Health? Prosperity? Possessions? Good luck? Those may all be good things but they don’t mean anything, they will not bring happiness, if we are alone. Imagine sitting in a beautiful mansion on Christmas Day all alone, no family, no friends…Relationships make the difference.
Recently I read that everyone has a relationship with God. Do you think that is true? If we look at the scripture we just read, it is clear: God made us and knows us in every detail whether or not we acknowledge it. He planned for us to be born, he watched us grow from the size of a dot to a fully formed baby and then beyond. He is our creator and therefore is permanently connected to us. But not everyone’s relationship with him is the same.
To help us understand this, imagine with me that each of us is given a bento box when we are born and that bento box is always with us. When we are young, other people, like our parents or teachers, relatives, friends, fill our bento boxes with different things. Some good, some not so good. But we all get to a point, growing into adulthood, where we begin to fill our own bento box. We decide what should go in there. So, with that premise, let’s look at three fictional people and how they filled their bento box.
The first person is going down the street and he is aware that he is hungry. He suddenly looks up and there is a world-famous restaurant that he has heard so much about. It is reputed to have the best food anywhere and, surprisingly, there is supposedly no charge for the food. He looks at his empty bento box and decides to go in. He is amazed at the huge assortment of food: the freshest fish, the tastiest sushi, rare Kobe beef, spring rice, freshly picked and quickly cooked vegetables. The colors and the aromas make his mouth water. He indicates to the servers what he wants and they carefully fill his bento box. At the end, there is even a large assortment of the most beautifully decorated desserts made with real whipped cream. Happily, he still has a little bit of room in his box for a couple small pieces. However, as he looks at all the many wonderful things he has chosen, he becomes a bit concerned. How much will this cost? He reaches the end of the line and he tentatively asks the person standing there, “Is this free?” “Oh, no,” he is told. “This is very costly food but the owner’s son has paid for it so there is no cost to you.” Wow. Amazing!
This person sits down in a quiet place and enjoys every bite. When he is finished, he feels so good. He is sated, satisfied, full but more than that, fulfilled. He feels very happy and content.
A second person is also on the same street. He is also aware that he is hungry. He looks through the window of the same restaurant but is very doubtful. He also has heard of it but he doesn’t think it is for him. But he goes in anyway, with his empty bento box. He sees all the food but he is suspicious and thinks it probably isn’t that good and he also thinks there is probably a large price to pay for it. So, he moves down the line, not choosing anything. He leaves the restaurant pleased that he has not received anything nor paid for anything. His bento box is still empty and he is still hungry but he is proud that he did not succumb to the offering.
There is a third person. This person is also on the same street, his bento box is also empty, and he is aware that he is hungry. However, he is so busy looking at all the food carts lining the street, he barely sees the famous restaurant. He is focused on what the food carts are selling. First, he buys a hot dog. It looks good on the cart but when it is put in his bento box, it suddenly looks small and shriveled and slightly burnt. “That will be $20,” said the vendor. Shocked, the person pays the price. Moving down to the next cart, he sees some potato chips. “Those will go nicely with my hot dog,” thought the man and the picture looked very appetizing. But when he paid the $5 for the chips, he got a small handful and they were limp and greasy. Vegetables were next. Wow, the tempura vegetables look so great on the sign on the next cart. But when he paid the $15, he found that they had been deep fried last week and now only quickly warmed up in the microwave. He had a few dollars left so he bought a frosted doughnut for dessert. Unfortunately, the frosting was hard and covered up the dryness of the donut. When he ate everything, he found it was not a satisfying meal and it all turned sour in his stomach.
What is going on here? What does this symbolize? When we know who God is and what he offers us, it is easy to see the world-famous restaurant is an illustration of all the gifts that God wants to give us. Maybe not so much food like this but much greater gifts like joy, peace, purpose, freedom from shame and guilt, love, all of that in abundance. And though there is a cost, it has all been paid by God’s son, Jesus. This is found in a fulfilling relationship with God.
The second person’s experience signifies someone who has heard of God and is even aware of what gifts he gives but this person is not interested. He is cynical, suspicious and doesn’t want the relationship nor the gifts. He ignores it all and goes away empty.
The third person is distracted by all the things the world has to offer. Things look good at first glance but they do not offer lasting value. This may include a beautiful home, a nice car, a fancy vacation each year, a prestigious career but, in the end, they are not satisfying and do not live up to the hype. He is so busy running after these things that it is easy for him to ignore what God gives.
Each of these people have chosen a relationship with God but each has a different relationship with God. One is accepting and receiving. The second person turns his back and the third person looks for a substitute, something else that will satisfy the longing in his heart. Even if God’s gifts are rejected or ignored, the response does not take away the fact that God is still offering a relationship with them.
But, how do we know everyone has a relationship with God? When God formed us, knit us in our mother’s womb, as the scripture says, he planted deep within each one of us yearnings that we can not explain or fully understand apart from God.
One of those deep desires includes a need to belong, to be a part of a group or community. Whether that is a family or a circle of friends or a club or an organization or a church (a family of God), we simply need others. John Dunne said it so well, “No man is an island.” This concept is called Totality. We don’t feel whole without others in our lives.
Another indicator is that almost everyone has a deep-seated feeling there is something more than just this life. Oh, some try to find scientific evidence that this is not so but it is hard to believe because God planted that in us as we were developing. It is part of our soul. Most religions acknowledge there is some sort of life after death. This is called Transcendence.
There are other indicators but the last one I want to mention is the fact that almost everyone has a sense there is someone greater out there. That there is hope and help. Someone who can lift them out of the everyday and into a greater life. This common thought is called Deliverance.
Just like the three people with their bento boxes, different people try to fill these yearnings and desires in different ways. But since we have all been created by God and he is the one who has placed a desire for totality, transcendence and deliverance within us, nothing else will quite satisfy.
But how does God want to have a relationship with us? What we know about him from the Bible is that he is perfect in every way. And we, certainly, are not. Throughout history, people have tried to accommodate this problem by creating other gods. These gods are not perfect. They all have their idiosyncrasies, foibles and hang ups. Some love to scare people, some love to take money from people, some are easily angered, some are capricious, (you never know if they are going to show up or if they are going to help). These gods are more like us. We understand that behavior. These gods are made in our imperfect image.
That is not the God of the Bible. He is incomparably different. He is perfect. Cannot be improved upon. No one could make up any god like him. And he loves us. He is so involved in our lives that he makes it his business to know all about us. Listen to these additional verses from Psalm 139:1-6:
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I am far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
Who would you want to know that much about you? Only someone who loves you unconditionally. And who does that best? A perfect father. That is the level of relationship God wants with us and he tells us to call him Father. Yes, he is also Almighty, All powerful, All knowing and All loving. Isn’t that the kind of father we all wish we had?
It doesn’t stop there. Jesus tells us he wants to relate to us as our brother, our friend. And he is our Savior above all. Who wouldn’t want a big brother like that? And then there is the Holy Spirit who is ever with us as counselor, guide, and advocate. I can’t imagine anything better than having a relationship with three persons who offer so much.
So those are the names we have for God. What does he call us? His child, his son or daughter, his precious treasure, his beloved. That fills the yearning in my heart! But is there a catch? A hidden cost? No, not hidden. God makes it plain. He wants us to live the full life he created us to have and that is to live a life of receiving love and giving it. Jesus made the way for us to do that.
How, then, do we develop this relationship? Like all relationships, it grows stronger and deeper the more we know about the person. God already knows us to the smallest detail but he invites us to know him better. Reading the Bible, (the book he wrote about himself), praying – (which is a fancy word for talking and listening to God), and obeying. Obeying means we do what is right.
My question for you is, what is in your bento box? Your bento box is just another way of saying your heart. What have you put in your heart, if anything, that will provide you with a life of fulfillment and purpose and value? If you are on empty, ask yourself why this is so. If you have filled it with man-made things, look carefully to see what it is doing to your heart.
The coming year is loaded with possibilities. But, no matter how much I wish it for you, in greeting after greeting, I cannot make you happy. Only your heavenly Father can do that. Choose joy. It is his gift to you.