Should I be concerned? It has been a great pleasure to renew several old acquaintances these last couple of weeks. Seems their faces look a little older than I remember them. Most have not changed very much. The names are still the same and most of them are still living life like they were living life way back when. If anyone was upset with me from long ago, they’ve forgiven and forgotten just like Jesus said they ought to do. I practice that one as often as I can remember. I pray and ask the Lord to reveal to me anyone I harbor any ill toward. When He reminds me, I quickly give the burden to Him and ask forgiveness. It is so much easier to let Him bear those burdens. Besides renewing old acquaintances is always a joyful time when you have someone come around who has accepted Jesus as Savior since the last time you saw them.
Still, should I be concerned? Something that seems to appear in retrospect is renewed visitation prior to passing on. You know, when someone dies, how people start talking about how their old friends suddenly just came by for a visit in the weeks or months prior to their funeral. Maybe it is just superstition or maybe in some instances just a grace from the Lord. I don’t really know that it happens all that often but when we think on it afterward it seems odd. I would not of course be concerned for myself. If this were a prelude to “my time to go”, I would not have a care or concern. It is like the idea of have a baby. There is pain and discomfort and anxiety until the birth is complete, then the pains are lost in the joys of loving the new gift from God. So also when we arrive in Heaven, it will not matter how many years we spent in agony and grief down here, “just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay”. Some say they want to go in their sleep; others want to go quickly without time to think about it. Some would like to have time to gather in the loved ones for final farewells and passing on family blessings. Does it really matter? One moment there is longer and stronger and greater and every superlative you can imagine better than all the best of days here. All that we do here is by His mercy. Yet to those left behind without the benefit of a real heavenly perspective, it may be concerning. They may still have regrets and unfinished business in their minds.
Still, should I be concerned? Or should I just be tickled that I get to love on some folks and get loved back. Should I be thinking we ought to do this more often? Or that we should do it again soon? My mother in law is in her eighties and she commented the other day how she didn’t have many friends left alive. And every once in a while someone she hasn’t seen in a very long time drops by to say “Hi”. Then she goes right on living. So maybe concern is too strong of a word for this thought. Maybe it should be a ponderable thought. Like anytime God brings someone across our paths. Maybe the question should what influence can I be on them. Or even what treasure did the Lord bring them by to bestow upon me. As I reminded someone recently, God may still be chipping away the pieces He doesn’t want us to be carrying around.
Still, should I be concerned? As a Bible believing Christian should I worry, be anxious or concerned about anything? Can I impact or attempt to overturn what God has determined should be next for me? If I remember correctly Hezekiah tried that and it didn’t turn out so well for him. When I review his life I think “he could have arrived in Heaven fifteen years earlier and without the shame of his egotistical stupidity”. If I am not concerned about the wild flowers being beautiful or about the birds being fed, I rather doubt a need for me to convince God He doesn’t have my life worked out properly. So I think I’ll just sing a praise of thanksgiving and acknowledge that I want to go home when it is my time according to His plan. Until then, Just me and you, right here, thinking about stuff I’m not concerned about.