Graduation Speech: When All Is Said and Done
There are, of course, times in your life when the glory of the appointment will slip to the far recesses of your mind. You will hide your calling under a basket and become merely another man in the room. Been there, done that. There will be times when irrationally the moth and rust of earthly riches will seduce you into pursuing them. You will make ungodly decisions and wonder why your life is contemptible instead of content. Been there, done that. There will be times in your life when you will rationalize the erasure of, or at least the smudging of, the periods behind His commands. Your love will become cold-hearted. Been there, done that. And sadly there will be times in your life when the difficulty of the journey will make you doubt that following Him is worth the wilderness. Been there, done that.
Have you ever read the Garfield comic strip in the newspaper. (If you're not sure what a newspaper is, talk to me later.) Garfield is the typical cat--arrogant, aloof at times, convinced he is smarter than his master, beauty personified. Well, living right next door to Garfield is a huge ferocious dog--but he's securely chained. And Garfield knows exactly how long the chain is. So he goes and sits right outside the reach of the dog. The dog will see him and charge full speed ahead convinced that getting that cat will make life worth the living. But, of course, at just the last minute--JOLT. The farther he ran and the longer he ran, the bigger the JOLT at the end. I have been that dog too many times in my life in pursuit of the one thing that I am convinced will bring me satisfaction and meaning--besides Christ. He lets me run for awhile, but then He rescues me with that jolt at the end. His holy love will not let me escape His loyal love--His lovingkindness--in pursuit of emptiness. He brings me back to His embrace--to my calling, to spiritual riches, to loving obedience, to loyal love to Him. I have never enjoyed the jolts. But, oh, am I thankful for them!
Our appointment is coming. My prayer for you is that on that day, He will pull out your "exam paper," and write the following: Fulfilled the calling--Christ in the room wherever I sent him--A; richest man or woman in the world--A. Punctuation--A. Lovingkindness--jolts and all--A. Then, He will write across the top of the paper--"Well done, good and faithful servant." And He'll take you in His arms of lovingkindness and whisper, "Thank you." (Mind-boggling that He who gave us His Spirit that we might be faithful to Him will thank us) And then He will tell you, "I went to the cross willingly, gladly, in anticipation of this moment, of this appointment I would have with you."
And after His glorious smile and hug, look behind Him all of us who are already Home--grandparents, parents, siblings. relatives, pastors and youth pastors who immersed you in the love of God will be waiting. I mean, we'll want our hug too. You who are, as the Thessalonians were to Paul, the crown of our rejoicing.
So when all is said and done . . . Class of 2019 we love you, and we will miss you. And we will be waiting for our hug. Go be Jesus.
Have you ever read the Garfield comic strip in the newspaper. (If you're not sure what a newspaper is, talk to me later.) Garfield is the typical cat--arrogant, aloof at times, convinced he is smarter than his master, beauty personified. Well, living right next door to Garfield is a huge ferocious dog--but he's securely chained. And Garfield knows exactly how long the chain is. So he goes and sits right outside the reach of the dog. The dog will see him and charge full speed ahead convinced that getting that cat will make life worth the living. But, of course, at just the last minute--JOLT. The farther he ran and the longer he ran, the bigger the JOLT at the end. I have been that dog too many times in my life in pursuit of the one thing that I am convinced will bring me satisfaction and meaning--besides Christ. He lets me run for awhile, but then He rescues me with that jolt at the end. His holy love will not let me escape His loyal love--His lovingkindness--in pursuit of emptiness. He brings me back to His embrace--to my calling, to spiritual riches, to loving obedience, to loyal love to Him. I have never enjoyed the jolts. But, oh, am I thankful for them!
Our appointment is coming. My prayer for you is that on that day, He will pull out your "exam paper," and write the following: Fulfilled the calling--Christ in the room wherever I sent him--A; richest man or woman in the world--A. Punctuation--A. Lovingkindness--jolts and all--A. Then, He will write across the top of the paper--"Well done, good and faithful servant." And He'll take you in His arms of lovingkindness and whisper, "Thank you." (Mind-boggling that He who gave us His Spirit that we might be faithful to Him will thank us) And then He will tell you, "I went to the cross willingly, gladly, in anticipation of this moment, of this appointment I would have with you."
And after His glorious smile and hug, look behind Him all of us who are already Home--grandparents, parents, siblings. relatives, pastors and youth pastors who immersed you in the love of God will be waiting. I mean, we'll want our hug too. You who are, as the Thessalonians were to Paul, the crown of our rejoicing.
So when all is said and done . . . Class of 2019 we love you, and we will miss you. And we will be waiting for our hug. Go be Jesus.
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