Abba, Father, I …

This is part two of the everlasting fame post. See part one here.

In the last post we said that humans  seek not just fame, but everlasting fame. And many people work at it with all of their might. But we also saw how those people who have become super famous in their lifetimes and soon after, are hardly a memory in most people’s mind just 500 years down the line.

Gone in 1000 years

It is true that there are some great people we still hear about 1000s of years later. But the audience they receive is limited to only certain specialty groups. For example, philosophers remember Plato and Socrates. Military students study Alexander the Great. Historians know one or two things about Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

By contrast, those people who did things requested of them by the Lord God, have everlasting memorial in the minds of people who identify themselves with Christianity. And this memorial is refreshed every new generation, as their “good” and “bad” deeds are used as lessons in life matters.

Zero fame now, infinite fame later

The reason for this is because of the types of reward system that are in operation on this earth.

Now or later.

To fully understand this, consider the person who discovered penicillin ( or antibiotics ) . If you are not a “student” of medicine or biology, you probably have no idea who he was. Or consider the person who first discovered the use of anesthesia. Who was he?  ( Psst: I heard that in it’s early forms as chloroform, it was denounced by some church people. They said it was an evil invention, because, they said, it denied people the chance to suffer through pain. And that it prevented their cries of pain  from being heard by God!   ).

These two discoveries have made life on the 3rd rock palatable to most people. Imagine our current world with no  antibiotics!

Should we feel bad that we are ungrateful by not knowing  these people yet we enjoy their labors? No. They have been rewarded already. Their reward is now. They gave the lad from Scotland a Nobel prize and Knighted him. Last time i got some antibiotics, i paid for it. Any time a person has surgery he pays dearly for all the anesthesia and other medical wonders he receives.

On the other hand, if you do an act for the Lord, it is He who will reward you, later. He will reward you, that is, if you do not seek to be rewarded  ( or honored ) by fellow mortals now.

The Lord owes you, your reward is pending, stretched out, to everlasting. As long as the earth endures, the Lord makes sure you are in people’s memory, as a remind that you are owed for your acts. And when finally the earth folds over, then you get your reward, and people are then free to “forget” your acts.

⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. ( 2 Timothy 4:8 NIV)

I am almost certain that in the new world, most people will seek out Paul of Tarsus or Enoch of Genesis, but not Sir Alexander Fleming of Scotland.

Does that mean you do not get some reward now? No. You do get a certain percentage, but the best portion is banked for you for later:

I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ( Mark 10:29-30 NIV)

Me? Seek fame? No!

You certainly have noticed how “men” of God and people in the “ministry” introduce themselves or like to be introduced by others?  Sample this:

• “Best selling author..”
• “Senior pastor of largest church..”
• “Founded 100s of  churches”
• “My ministry gave millions of dollars to those..”
• “Has syndicated shows on..”

You think this is not a problem? Why?
Read the rest of this entry »

I will also give him the morning star. Rev 2:28

Is a Hollywood star worth anything if she/he has no star in the Hollywood walk of Fame?

The Hollywood Walk of Fame, if you do not know, is a sidewalk along Hollywood Blvd and Vine Street in Hollywood, CA, USA,  that is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of (mostly) human celebs honored for their contributions to the entertainment industry.

But you already knew that, not so?

These and other types of honor are a sought after commodity in the heart of humans (and non humans). It is perhaps an attempt to make one’s mark in the world. A  desire to outlast our quick and fleeting -70+ passage in time through terra firma. Something that says to us:

“I did something while i was here!”

Who did that?

All over the world, people read books. Who invented the printing press?  My mother does not know which German that was, nor does she care. Do you? Who invented these everyday must have life items:- the  TV, the mobile phone, the digital camera? How about the male suit or the female mini skirt? Who came up with the “arial” font face? Perhaps you do not know, and that is okay. You do not have to know these people.

500 years from now, no one will know or care about the fact that one Bill Gates gave us Office with Windows ,  or that Sergey birthed Google and  Steve Jobs made us very excited with his i* series if electronic magic creating devices or that Mark made it possible for you to digitally live forever on Facebook or that Jack Dorsey made it possible for the Library of Congress to catalog even your idling mundane thoughts, and that Tim Bernes-Lee made it possible for me to very easily share this post with you.

All these people have done things worthy of praise and deserve some measure of honor.

This is honor

While many people may not know who Tim Bernes-Lee is, when i mention the following people, most of us (and many other people in other countries ) immediately  know who i am talking about:  Abraham, Moses,  Rahab the prostitute, Esther, Mary and Joseph, the good Samaritan, the woman who wiped Jesus feet with her tears and hair, the boy with five loaves of bread and two little fish.

And, you bet, that as long as the gospel is being preached, even 1000 years from know, Christians all over will care about these people, but they will be amazed that people in the 21st century ( me and you ) could actually get some work done by the use of rudimentary tools such as the the PC and iphone and Internet 2.

Why is that so?

Whom God honors..

Because, the only honor worth having is that which is spoken from the mouth of God. All else is like the dew of the morning, which flies away as soon as the sun comes into its brightness.

What that means, my friends, is that, even as you do a work or seek to leave a mark or in whatever you desire to be known of, if it did not originate as an act of obedience to the word you heard from the Lord God, it really is a waste of time, for when you stand before the son of God, it shall not be counted on your behalf:

I will also give him the morning star (Rev 2:28 NIV)

Whose star is that at?

Going back to the Hollywood walk of fame, there is actually one star that might shine for generations and generations and will be remembered at the end of time. And that person had initially refused the honor!

So, here is your assignment:

Whose star is at address: 6901 Hollywood Blvd?