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Dear friends
I’m starting on a somber note this week. Some who read this are personally acquainted with my mom. Others have read of her in this newsletter down through the years. Mom passed away Saturday, about six weeks short of her 91st birthday. We are glad she is with the Lord, but we will also miss her here.
We received a high school graduation card last week. At the top was inscribed the class motto, and I quote: “If you’re not first, you’re last!”
Now, I know that every class tries to come up with a meaningful motto that no one else has ever used, but I wondered how this one ever got approval from a class sponsor. One of the first things I thought of was, the Bible says “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30; 20:16). To his disciples, Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
Obviously these statements from the Lord contradict the class motto. The idea of being first comes from the value system of the world that says getting to the top of the heap is what is matters most. Jesus indicates here and elsewhere that in His view, our status is measured in completely different terms.
As I spent time with Mom during her last hours on this earth, I was acutely aware that at the end, our position in the world means absolutely nothing. At that point the only thing that matters is our relationship with Jesus Christ. All the “stuff” we strive for is meaningless when we stand at eternity’s threshold. At the end of our lives, the only question left to answer is “what did you do with Jesus?”
I know the choice Mom made. What about you? What will you do with Jesus?

Held in His everlasting love,
Pastor Jerry