Sealed & Delivered
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Sealed & Delivered
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Riverside/Benoni Church Bulletin-02-10-08SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED
"Oh, ye who would communicate--have ye considered the
humble postage stamp?" That is the way King James would have written it
back in 1611 had there been post offices back then. Even though email
seriously threatens "snail mail," people still make regular trips to the
Post Office to buy stamps. Some older folks resist entry into the modern
world of communication technology by avoiding personal computers like
the plague. They think that cookies and spam are on the
menu at an Internet Cafe. But, let's get back to stamps--the humble,
traveling, facilitating stamp!
What lessons can be learned from postage stamps? How
are we like stamps? First of all, they are usually colorful
while we are fearfully and wonderfully made, Psalms 139:14.
They have an identity, while we have been made in the image of God, Genesis
1:27. They have their price, though that price is infinitesimal
compared to the price paid for each one of us, Acts 20:28.
Though stamps come in groups, they don't mind "standing alone" when duty
requires it. When necessary, however, they are also team players and
cooperate with others to get the job done. We mostly act together as a
corporate body, the church, but like a single
stamp, sometimes we have to stand alone in the fight for the right, 2
Timothy 4:16-18. Different stamps perform different tasks and likewise,
we are individually endowed for varied tasks, Romans 12:4-6..
Some stamps speed letters on their way while others
deliver parcels to faraway places. They do their work unashamedly and
they stick to the task to the end. We, too, can't afford to be ashamed
of our work because it is the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16.
In fact, stamps "go into all the world" willingly. They are always
readily available, doing their job without prejudice or partiality. We
also are commissioned to go into all the world and take the
message of salvation, Mark 16:15-16, without prejudice or
partiality, cf. 1 Timothy 5:21. Then, too, stamps are
good ambassadors for their country while we are ambassadors for
a heavenly country, 2 Corinthians 5:20. When stamps have completed their
task, the "good, untarnished ones" might find their way into a
philatelist's stamp album. Imitating the humble stamp once more, we must
remain faithful to the end, Revelation 2:10, never shrinking
back from the task before us, Hebrews 10:35-39. So let's be
like a stamp--let's stick to the job until we have reached our
destination. God will then have a place for us in His album. It is
called the "Book of Life," Revelation 20:15. Meanwhile, we can sing the
familiar old hymn Oh, to Be Like Thee which concludes with the
words, "Stamp thine own image deep on my heart."
Finally, let me stamp this on your heart:
Jesus signed for us with the Cross of Calvary. Children of God
have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1:13. In
addition, God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness,
Colossians 1:12. So, we have been signed, sealed and
delivered! Now, as was the case of the Corinthians, let us
remember that we are a letter, an epistle, known and read
by everybody," 2 Corinthians 3:2. Let the contents point to Jesus.
Let the message name his name. Let the delivery be assured! Evangelize,
evangelize, evangelize! Invite! Invite! Invite! The mail must
get through!!
Love you all,
Al --"The Horne of Africa"
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