Little Square Inches
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” In kindergarten, you might say, “I want to be an astronaut!” Fast forward to your senior year in college and that “exciting” question now keeps you up at night. “I don’t know. Maybe grad school?” becomes the new answer. Educators seek to inspire by saying “you can be anything you want to be,” but life usually reveals each person’s limits.
For many of you who are “grown up,” there’s a widening gap between what you wanted to be and who you, in fact, are. As the excitement of living your dreams fades, you might reflect upon the word of Leo Tolstoy: “What will come of what I am doing today or tomorrow? What will come of my whole life? Why should I live, why wish for anything, or do anything? … Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?” I mean, who ever says, “the #1 thing I want to be when I grow up is insignificant”? In the hilarious new sitcom, Glee, Sue Sylvester (who thinks she is pretty great) articulates the desire to make a name for yourself:
“You know, I wasn’t always in the spot light. But I didn’t want to end up stuck in a lousy high school, wrestling with mental illness. Or forty, and single, coaching the worst football team in the history of our state. Or having to go to the salon every week to have my hair permed. I didn't want to end up like that.”
But, most ordinary lives look pretty similar to what Sue describes here. You are NOT in the spotlight as you change dirty diapers, make phone calls, wash dishes, pull weeds, study art history, grade papers, examine sore throats, and all the other thousands of things we might consider mundane.
Why does anything we do matter if we are all going to die and a few folks might gather for our funeral followed by potato salad? The fact is that through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, ordinary things take on extraordinary meaning. Matter MATTERS. You see, Jesus not only takes our sin on the cross, but he defeats the very thing that threatens to take away reasons we have for living or doing anything: DEATH. What’s final is not death, but RESURRECTION.
Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:20: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the FIRST in the bodily resurrection of everyone who belongs to Him by faith. God’s work of redemption is NOT ultimately about us going to heaven when we die. It’s about the ultimate Extreme Makeover-. Jesus returns and heaven comes down to earth. This tired old world is in for a complete renovation where everything wrong is made right. Once and for all, the prayers of God’s people will be answered, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
After speaking about the resurrection of our bodies in 1 Cor. 15, Paul’s application sounds almost like a direct answer to Tolstoy’s “why should I do anything?” question:
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
If you belong to the Lord through faith in Christ, ALL that you do matters. It’s not just “the Word of God and souls of men” that will last. We go about our work in anticipation of that new heavens and new earth: changing dirty diapers, washing dishes, faithfully praying, sharing Christ, and even eating and drinking… all to the glory of God! Abraham Kuyper said “there is not one square inch in the world that Jesus does not say “that is mine.” So, when I finally get around to doing a mundane task like cleaning my messy office, I’m reflecting God’s image in bringing order out of chaos and making earth look like heaven!
Instead of worshipping gods like greatness, fame, and recognition…. worship the Great Being: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He invites you to glorify Him in the little square inches where he plants you. Say to Him, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:11
Marc Corbett
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on 12.9.09 Mark Schandorff said