One element of my job as a Music Minister is a lot of travel. Near and far I take trips for multiple lengths of time. Most always on planes. At this point, after hundreds of flights, I know my favorite airports, airlines and restaurants where I can eat at each stop and transfer. I can predict when a flight is going to be delayed and how much time I need to move from gate to gate to catch my connection. In my mind, I’m a seasoned traveler.
This summer, for multiple reasons, TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) or ‘security’ as we call it, has seen a lot of problems. It continues to appear on CNN articles that the lines to go through security are unbelievably long, longer than they ever have been before. Travelers are being advised to arrive 3 hours before domestic flights to simply give them enough time to get to their gate. Now, with these lines there are 3 categories. ‘General’ ‘Priority’ and ‘Pre Checked’. With ‘Priority’ it means you have some kind of status with your airline. This will get you in a shorter line up to the security guard checking I.D, then you get put back with the general population to go through scanning. ‘Pre Check’ is the super special line. The line where people have paid a fee, provided a background check and taken the time to go to their local police station to give finger prints. This special ‘elite’ crowd get to sail through security without having to remove shoes, lap tops or jackets! Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Well, in times like this at the airport, with extreme chaos and over population, many ‘Priority’ and even ‘General’ passengers are being bumped into the ‘Pre Check’ lane simply to balance things out. As you can imagine this has caused some ill will from he passengers who have gone through all of the steps to be there and paid the fee. How dare their line be lengthened by unworthy, undeserving civilians?? It simply isn’t fair! After all, isn’t that the whole reason they’ve gone through the process to begin with? To avoid over crowding, delays and having to be stuck with the riff raff and even the ghastly un-seasoned traveller?
I couldn’t help but see a distinct similarity between this situation and the Kingdom of God. For many of us life-long Christians, who have either been born into the faith, or found it at an early age. We feel as though we are in the ‘Pre Check’ lane. After all, haven’t we worked harder and longer at being a good and faithful, deserving Christian? The only problem is, God does not have a ‘Pre Check’ lane. His salvation has no categories or boundaries. He simply cannot love us anymore than He already does, not matter how hard we try, how hard we worship, how close to the principles we live. It’s hard for some to swallow that God loves the person who has served Him faithfully just as much as He loves the person who has cursed and denied Him for years. In the end there will be many who appear in Heaven who, in our minds, couldn’t possibly deserve to be there. But truthfully, the ones who posses that mind frame are the ones that won’t deserve to be in Heaven.
As you go about your day, I hope you will feel the love that God has for you. A love you could never earn, no matter how hard you try. But a simple willingness to love God and others in that very same way that God loves you and I. Because when it comes to lines, I hope the one to Heaven is longer than any line we have ever seen before.
Sincerely,
Naomi Striemer
www.naomistriemermusic.com
This summer, for multiple reasons, TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) or ‘security’ as we call it, has seen a lot of problems. It continues to appear on CNN articles that the lines to go through security are unbelievably long, longer than they ever have been before. Travelers are being advised to arrive 3 hours before domestic flights to simply give them enough time to get to their gate. Now, with these lines there are 3 categories. ‘General’ ‘Priority’ and ‘Pre Checked’. With ‘Priority’ it means you have some kind of status with your airline. This will get you in a shorter line up to the security guard checking I.D, then you get put back with the general population to go through scanning. ‘Pre Check’ is the super special line. The line where people have paid a fee, provided a background check and taken the time to go to their local police station to give finger prints. This special ‘elite’ crowd get to sail through security without having to remove shoes, lap tops or jackets! Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Well, in times like this at the airport, with extreme chaos and over population, many ‘Priority’ and even ‘General’ passengers are being bumped into the ‘Pre Check’ lane simply to balance things out. As you can imagine this has caused some ill will from he passengers who have gone through all of the steps to be there and paid the fee. How dare their line be lengthened by unworthy, undeserving civilians?? It simply isn’t fair! After all, isn’t that the whole reason they’ve gone through the process to begin with? To avoid over crowding, delays and having to be stuck with the riff raff and even the ghastly un-seasoned traveller?
I couldn’t help but see a distinct similarity between this situation and the Kingdom of God. For many of us life-long Christians, who have either been born into the faith, or found it at an early age. We feel as though we are in the ‘Pre Check’ lane. After all, haven’t we worked harder and longer at being a good and faithful, deserving Christian? The only problem is, God does not have a ‘Pre Check’ lane. His salvation has no categories or boundaries. He simply cannot love us anymore than He already does, not matter how hard we try, how hard we worship, how close to the principles we live. It’s hard for some to swallow that God loves the person who has served Him faithfully just as much as He loves the person who has cursed and denied Him for years. In the end there will be many who appear in Heaven who, in our minds, couldn’t possibly deserve to be there. But truthfully, the ones who posses that mind frame are the ones that won’t deserve to be in Heaven.
As you go about your day, I hope you will feel the love that God has for you. A love you could never earn, no matter how hard you try. But a simple willingness to love God and others in that very same way that God loves you and I. Because when it comes to lines, I hope the one to Heaven is longer than any line we have ever seen before.
Sincerely,
Naomi Striemer
www.naomistriemermusic.com