Making a good presentation to God …

In a big part of this world, people keep their thoughts on today. Much of their day will involve all the tasks necessary to survive.

In the Western World, though, our thoughts are more consistently focused on the future, often to such a degree we miss living well today.

But for all of us, there is something in the future that will eclipse any experience in all of our lives … and we give so little thought to it.

What’s the big event?

Some day, we all will have to present ourselves in the flesh, face-to-face to God.

Nothing in the past or present, or yet to come, will rival that moment. It’s a really big deal, something the Apostle Paul provides some instruction about:

“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:15.

Paul tells us we’ll want to make a good presentation of ourselves to God, we’ll want to gain His approval. But notice, Paul says being able to make a good presentation will require hard work!

Maybe that’s why we give it so little consideration.

Like so many things we do, in the back of our minds we likely think we can cut some corners and still be ready for the “big day.” That reminds me of a story told by Pastor John Telgren …

I hated shining shoes in Basic Training. There were other things I would rather be doing instead of sitting on the floor with a brush and mounds of cotton balls stained with black Kiwi shoe polish! If our boots and dress shoes were not perfect we paid for it dearly!

During one of our trips to the Base Exchange, one of the guys in our unit discovered a “Shine Sponge” that was supposed to give us an effortless shine. Nearly every single person in the unit bought one. When we got back to the barracks, we applied the sponge (which appeared to be some kind of clear oil) to our footwear, and they shone like a mirror! It left a coat of some sort of oil on them which produced an almost unearthly shine.

We were confident that when our Training Instructor came by (as he always did) in the middle of the night that we would not have our bunks tipped over due to a less-than-perfect shine on our boots and shoes.

Most of us were rudely awakened on the cold floor with a bunk bed lying on top of us. Why? Our boots had no shine! We got the biggest chewing out since the beginning of training. The lights came on. We were wide-awake now. Our boots! Our shoes!! They were the most ugly, dull things we had ever seen. Why? The oil had soaked into the leather and made the leather more dull than the day we had them issued to us. The only ones who had shines on their shoes were the ones who didn’t use the shine sponge on them.

The moral of the story? There are some things in life you can’t cut corners with.

“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth,” 2 Timothy 2:15.

Scotty