Thursday, March 3, 2011

Of Cabbages and Kings

‘The time has come’, the walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.’
—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

In preparing for revival at South Haven Church of the Nazarene next month, I was reading John Wesley's sermon, "The Most Important Question."

Wesley speaks of the philosophy that if a person of low station, a commoner, poor, uneducated, would try to talk about kings and kingdoms and things far above him, he would struggle to find the words because they would be unfamiliar to him.

He wouldn't know the language to use to describe what he experienced in association with the higher station of life, nor would he have the understanding of the things he might see or experience in relation to them to talk easily of them. Anything he might say, he would struggle to find the words to describe.

If the king, himself, or a prince, however, were to talk about such things, he would be able to speak freely about them because of his familiarity with those same topics and associations.

So it is with us who are so far below the Kingdom of God. We're unable to express ourselves well because what we see, and learn, and taste and experience is so far above us we don't even know the words to use to describe it.

Yet, Jesus, who is of that Heavenly Kingdom, can speak freely and clearly about such things. It's home to Him. He speaks of what He knows.

Doesn't it make sense then, that when an "expert" on the subject, someone who has been a part of that Heavenly Kingdom all His life (forever!), tells us what that Kingdom is like and how we can be a part of it, that we listen to Him?

And doesn't it make sense that we should also believe Him because He knows what He's talking about? He has been there. It's familiar to Him. It's His hometown.

I pray the Lord will help us to realize that He speaks the truth because He is the Truth. He knows what the truth about Heaven is because it's His home. Let's do our best to listen.

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