The “Gospel Challenge”
Chaplain Bill Wolfe
Llano County Sheriff’s Department
Hello, and welcome to this September’s edition of the Chaplain’s Corner. Since we rode out last time I’ve started full-time with the SO here as a patrol deputy. The downside of that is that I’m working the 6p-3a shift. I’m finding out that I’m not the night owl that I was in college. J (The old biological clock doesn’t want to shift too easily.) I’m finding too, that there’s just not a whole lot of traffic on the highways out here at 0200 either.
As you recall, last month I invited those of you that ride with me to send a short description of something to see if I could “find a sermon in there.” I did get one response from a friend who is a repeat offender under the “I locked my keys in the car” statute. Locked out of the vehicle…hmm…OK, here goes: The Parable of the Locked Vehicle.
(If you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘parable,’ it’s just a word picture that is used to describe a spiritual truth.)
I'm going to change up the presumption just a tad here, and for the sake of illustration, we'll say that rather than your personal vehicle, we're talking about the highest end luxury vehicle you can imagine. You know, the kind they only make one-at-a-time and “if you have to ask how much, you can’t afford it.” It has been offered as a free gift to you – TT&L included. This vehicle is so far above your expectations it almost takes your breath away. You only need to get inside and it's all yours.
But there’s a problem: the keys are locked inside it, just beyond your ability to get hold of them. Even though you want to, you are unable to get in by your own efforts. You could pound on the car with your fist, but all you'd do is get a sore hand. You could yell, scream or cry -- all to no avail.
So too, is the Kingdom of Heaven. Its splendor is beyond anything you can imagine. But, as is the case with our “vehicle,” you are on the outside looking in. We can't get in by force of our might or our will, the volume of our voice, or our pitifulness. The "Keys of the Kingdom" are simply not in your possession. The Key that unlocks the door is within the Kingdom itself. Jesus is the only “Key” that opens the door.
You need a "Savior" to unlock the door and let you in. And His Name is Jesus. Just like you have to humble yourself and call someone to come unlock the door of a real vehicle, you have to humble yourself before Him and ask Him to come to your aid.
The interesting thing here is that Jesus doesn't come with a window tool to break into the vehicle, for He is actually inside the “vehicle” all the time. We just don't see Him until we're desperate enough to call out His Name.
Now comes the hard part...we call out to Him and although He is more than able to, He doesn't open the door, He rolls down the window and says, "You can't come in here looking like that.” (We step back and look at ourselves and find we’ve been out working in the yard and are not very presentable.) “You can only come in if you'll let Me clean you up." So now we have a choice...accept His cleansing or miss out on "the vehicle." It's a conscious decision that we have to make for ourselves.
Once we agree to His terms, He cleans us up and opens the door and welcomes us in to the most magnificent “vehicle” we could ever try to imagine.
Here endeth the “Second Lesson.” J Next?
Blessings to you and yours.
Chaplain Bill
llanochaps@moment.net
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