Refrigerators in Heaven

 Today I found an interesting passage in the Bible, a verse that really caught my attention as we soldier on through this series of  “Heroes of the Faith”. It’s in Luke 17, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

To begin with, let’s talk about the generation that we see growing up around us. For myself, that would be two generations away from mine, as I look at the lives of our grandchildren.  Let me be fair: if you have any distinguishing trait, such as the color of your skin, or the heritage that defines you, or if there’s anything about you that has resulted in your being set apart by someone’s definition of cruel ways, then you might possibly be singled out as someone in need of a special exemption from normal living. Please hear what I’m saying -  I’m generalizing here - but there may be a case for special treatment and an extra measure of mercy and grace.   

Now, let me get to the thing that caused me to pause and consider this morning. It’s a fact that I personally have the greatest grandchildren on the planet. I watch them growing up and I have to thank God every day for the wonderful parents they’ve been given. But even as I rejoice, I’m saddened to know that not all children are so blessed. And I’ll leave the conclusion-drawing to others smarter than I, but it seems there is a growing attitude around me that has pervaded our society and it’s made manifest in the nature of child-rearing I’m seeing.

Now, I come to the Bible verse that startled me, Luke 17:7-10:

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?  Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

I remember hearing (probably from my sister who had these kinds of conversations) that my Daddy did not believe in praising children for what was expected of them. That’s how I grew up.  

Before you feel sorry for me, understand that I grew up feeling much loved and honored, but I had chores and they got done.  I was praised for random achievements somewhat, but what I remembered most was a feeling of loyalty and responsibility to be a “Smith Girl” who was expected to do the right thing at the right time.  What helped with this, is that I felt that they also seemed to believe that I would …. do the right thing.  That made me proud and also instilled a desire to not let them down.  

Granted, I wasn’t a servant or a slave, as insinuated in this passage, but I felt very much a PART of a PLAN, and I had my self respect that I would be the agent to get it done, just as the servant in Verse 17 comes in and EXPECTS to make supper and clean up.

I never, till this morning, have come across this attitude in the Bible, certainly not from Jesus, who is supposed (as the well-known chorus goes) to be my best friend.  But there it is.

And I think in having this attitude, Jesus gives me real honor by expecting the job to be done, just like I think He did when He watched these many heroes that we’ve been looking at of late.  What did Spurgeon say last week?  “The greatest joy of a Christian is to give joy to Christ.”

I’ll save you the rhetoric about the “Me” generation, but I think you know what I’m talking about here.  I pray for my grandchildren as I always to, that they will FEEL the honor of doing what they’re meant to without expecting to be praised and coddled for just showing up.

There will always be plenty of chances to praise them, like yesterday when 5-year-old grandson Micah went out onto the basketball court for the first time, suited up for a real game with real referees. He may not have made any baskets, but the joy on his face made it worth the trip. And I let him know how proud I was of him.

I’d like to think that if there were refrigerators in Heaven, God would have something of mine stuck on the door with a magnet. He would point to it with pride and say, “That’s My girl!” Not because of anything I’ve done, but because of who I am.