Higher Calling
Family and friends are scattered all over the world this time of the year and we really long for them to be home with us. During the Christmas season we are bombarded with all those television commercials showing Joey who has just arrived back from the front lines, he walks up the steps, knocks on the door and surprises Mom and the rest of the family. It is tempting to be a bit upset because we want our loved ones home too.
Christmas may be over but I still want you to remember three groups of people who were unable to be with family and friends this year. They are people serving in the military, folks overseas on the mission field and people who serve our country in other ways around the world. They may be serving in a foreign country but their hearts are at home with family and friends during this season. These individuals have a higher calling, whether it is to our country or for God.
Thanks to advances in technology, our world is no longer as vast as it used to be, enabling us to stay close and connected with those people whom we love and miss. I hope that we will have other times in the days ahead that we can share with those who were not able to make it home for Christmas.
Let’s be proud of our loved ones who have chosen to sacrifice for God and our country. Christians who intentionally follow Christ have a wonderful promise given by the Lord, found in Luke 18:29-30:
“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.’”
We can be assured that when we sacrifice all for Christ, He will graciously lavish upon us blessings in this life and in the life to come. To receive this promise, though, Jesus must take center stage in our lives, even above our family and friends.
