The Mirage

The Mirage

 

I don't know if you have seen this on television or in a movie, but picture a person in the desert walking for days and dying of thirst. The weary traveler has their tongue sticking to the top of their mouth as it swells.  Nothing would do them more good than to simply have a sip of  clear, cool, refreshing water.  So as they walk, they notice --off in the distance-- what appears to be an Oasis!  They see beautiful palm trees!  They smell the scent of water, and so they run for all they are worth! When they arrive, they plant themselves face down and begin to gulp down... sand!

 

"How can this be," says the parched brain of the weary traveler, as they cough and gag their way along trying to get the sand out of their mouth?  "How could I have been so wrong?  This thing looked so real, and I could just taste it!"  Then they realize they have been looking at a mirage.  The Oasis was not real, and their brain has been playing tricks on them.

 

As I continue this journey, I have begun to believe that their are more people looking at a mirage than they are willing to admit.  I use to look at the mirage of tomorrow on a regular basis... that is until I had a number of heart attacks and came to the realization that the #1 killer of the American male is heart attack. 

 

All too many people live as if they will live forever... a mirage.  So they walk like it.  They talk like it, and they even live it believing that they,  and all their loved ones, will be safe and sound (on this side of heaven), and then they are way laid into realizing that life is not that simple.  Like many of us, they were looking at a Mirage. Ask the mother who has laid their child to rest, "Could you have ever imagined outliving your child?"  Ask the spouse of a loved one who "died way before their time," if they ever dreamed they would be journeying alone.  I have officiated more funerals than I care to think about, and many times I hear this, "I thought we had more time!" Like many of us, they were looking at life and seeing a mirage.

 

Jesus was clear about how to avoid the mirage: He said, "Take NO thought for tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own."

 

James was rather blunt about this when he made it clear that assuming we have tomorrow is an arrogant thing.

 

I can tell you that there are loved ones I would love to hold close, and I do have regrets for not loving them more and doing more for them.  But I thought we had more time. I "messed up" because I thought their was more time, and so those things I want to say to them face to face I cannot say to them because they have gone to their eternal reward.  I fouled up because I focused on what I thought I was running toward and did not look at what (or who) was right in front of me.  I focused on a mirage and not on the today that is the only day guaranteed.

 

The  most deadly problem with this tomorrow mirage is that person who has decided to eat, drink and be merry, without considering the possibility of tomorrow they will have died. So they rarely ever... maybe never ever... consider it is indeed "appointed to us once to die, and then next comes the judgment;" therefore, such a mirage brained person takes little care for their soul.  They have little concern about their need to receive the greatest love ever offered from the ONE who laid down his life for them. And he did so in order that it would "be well with their soul."  The mirage of their assumed life leaves them (and their children) in a place where they are simply not ready to die. It robs them (and their children) of the experiential love that is like no other.  Because their brain is deceived (just as sure as the one staring at the Oasis) they focus on all the wrong things that will leave them lacking at the worst possible time.

 

If you have been able to read this far through this blog, please know that I hope your children, grandchildren and you will indeed, "Live Long And Prosper."  I hope you and all your loved ones live to a ripe old age of 90 or more; however, at the same time, I do hope that you will consider carefully-- even prayerfully-- what I am saying about this mirage of tomorrow.  Don't let your brain play tricks on you.  Don't listen to the "we have plenty of time" crowd. Hold those loved ones as close as they will let you hold them. Pay them compliments and shower them with more love than they desire.  And for heaven sake... DON'T TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED.

 

Finally get to know Jesus who wants to be your Savior.  Get to know this one who longs to love you more than you could ever imagine loving yourself.  Turn from you sin to him and worship him!  Let him walk with you through every mountain top experience, and let him walk with you through the valley of the shadow of death. Find friendship and fellowship among the people of God.  Don't be insane and not settle this issue that will impact, not only you, but your children or grandchildren. If you teach them how to live, teach them how to die as well.  Don't let your mirage become your descendants mirage. 

 

The person in the above mentioned movie, really had put their life at risk.  Why?  They had put their life at risk because they decided to believe in that which did not really exist.  There is a whole lot of beautiful people and stuff for which to live... TODAY! Don't believe in the mirage.  Don't take your loved ones for granted, and be sure to allow Jesus, who is The Christ, to be your Savior... Today!

 

Y'all be blessed 2day!

Especially 2day!

 

SoJourner