“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea…. And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new….'” (Re 21:1-5a NAS95)
Some Christians my age and older would like to rephrase that Scripture and have God say, “Behold, I am making all things the way they were in 1965.” But the Bible never suggests that God will take us back to an idyllic time. Ever since the Garden of Eden, God has intended that the old things pass away and that all things be made new.
My Dad passed away in the summer of 2009. I had his ashes at my house until all of us kids (my brother in North Carolina and my sister in Anchorage) decided we would bury both Dad’s and Mom’s ashes here in Grand Marais, at the Maple Hill Cemetery. The grave marker had the verse, “Behold, I am making all things new” on it.
We did this just a few weeks ago, which is why I have been thinking about my parents lately… especially my dad.
There were a number of ways in which my dad was very different from me. He was utterly unsentimental while I wear my emotions on my sleeve. He was a consummate engineer and he could see woodworking and construction projects in his head. I, on the other hand, continue to practice “stream of consciousness” carpentry. I start cutting and nailing hoping something useable emerges from the sawdust.
But I am proud of my father and hope that my character is like his. I also hope that my attitude is like his as I grow older. Dad learned to live as if God’s intention to make all things new was a guideline for Jesus’ disciples today. Two examples spring immediately to mind…
Church Music. Whether Dad liked what he heard on any given Sunday or not, he checked himself from complaining about the shift in church music. He understood that church was not a museum, but a growing family that was constantly bringing up a new generation. It wasn’t about him. It was about Jesus Christ and what glorified Him by growing and discipling His church. Along the way, he also found he actually liked some of the new music!
Second Career. Dad was a volunteer counselor with the Chaplain of the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry. Dad decided that retirement was just a career change. He chose not to rest on his laurels… because they were part of what was passing away. He started something completely new and way out of his comfort zone. He made a major commitment to that ministry… spending every Tuesday and Thursday for the last 15 years of his life befriending, teaching and counseling men at the local county jail. Several came to his funeral.
These are things that make me very proud of my Dad. Our personalities featured some very significant differences, but it is my greatest desire to grow old as vitally, graciously and faithfully as my Father.
The passage I read from Rev. 21 is often read at funerals. The passing of all that is old and the remaking of all things brand new is usually thought to come later when Jesus returns. Dad didn’t see it that way and the Apostle Paul didn’t see it that way either.
Paul told us, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2Co 5:17 NAS95) As followers of Christ we have a choice, to identify with that which is passing or to join the remaking of all things new… Dad’s example was clear and it is a direction I hope to follow.
Thanks, Pop!
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Pastor Dave Harvey, who has served as pastor of Grand Marais Evangelical Free Church since February of 2008.
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