(Colossians 2:5) "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ."
Once there was a father and son who loved each other very much, but found themselves intensely out of fellowship for a period of about a week. The son had stubbornly refused to heed the counsel of his father, had snowballed his way into some serious sin, and was unwilling to either confess his transgressions or to seek his father’s wisdom on how to put things right again.
The son had a standing invitation to his father’s table on Sunday afternoons, but even so, the father was a bit surprised to see his son walking up the cobblestone to the front door just in time for the weekly feast.
Although the father was perfectly ready to hear his son’s confession and equally ready to forgive him, the son, stubbornly clinging to the deceitful drivel that “time heals all wounds” proceeded to foul the house and the feast as well with his sullen recalcitrance. The father tried gently to counsel his wayward charge, but the son was having none of it. Finally, just as he was about to leave his father’s house, the son’s heart broke and multiple admissions and pleas for forgiveness poured forth, which the father was only too pleased to grant. Fellowship was restored and some good coffee poured, but both men had preparations to make for the next day and so their communion was frustratingly brief.
The father chuckled to himself as he sipped the last of his espresso. “You know son, this afternoon would have been infinitely more enjoyable had we just done exactly what we did, except in a different order.”
“How’s that?” queried the younger.
“Well, you came here, to my house, at my invitation. So far so good. But you refused to do what you ought to have done before you even set foot in my abode: Confess your sins and receive my pardon. But on we stumbled through the den and to our meal, which, let’s be honest, neither of us, or for that matter, anyone seated at the table, was able to enjoy much. I gave you good counsel at table, but unfortunately, most of it bounced off the side of your head and landed on the floor. In contrast, your foul words seeped into our Sabbath fare and ruined the taste of both your mother’s pork roast and the Beaujolais. You did finally make a clean breast of things, but too late for us to savor one another’s company for long, and too late to retrieve my good words from the hardwood.”
“I think I see what you’re saying Dad.”
“Son, next time, and there will be a next time, let’s settle things out on the porch and save the living room for wise words and strong counsel, and the dinner table for long stories and deep laughter, good food and tasty drink, edifying speech and delightful verse. The table is well suited for celebration, but fouls so easily with the mention, or even the remembrance, of sin. All things in order eh?
“Sounds good to me” said the son with a slight grin. “Next time I’ll wipe off my feet before I come inside, instead of afterwards on mom’s good linen.”
“Now that should make for a more peaceful Sabbath, son. I think you get the idea. Now go with my blessing. I’m going to sweep up my Solomonic soliloquy lying on the floor around the table so as to have it ready for you next week. It’ll go perfectly with your mom’s lasagna.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Paul rejoiced to see the good order of the saints in Colosse as they worshipped the Lord together. May the Lord Jesus Christ be similarly pleased with the worship that we offer to the Father in his name.
No comments:
Post a Comment