A few pyramids. A handful of sand. A young girl. Each year, millions of visitors flood to the archaic Pyramids of Giza to capture a snapshot of time itself. To encapsulate their moment of history. Arguably, the greatest wonder of man's creation, these pyramids stand as a monument to past greatness and collapsed empires. Ah, but the sand.
Just recently, my seventeen-month old niece made her first trip to this ancient site on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Nestled in the far Eastern portion of the Sahara, the desert compiles the base, backdrop, (depending on which direction you are facing) and natural beauty of this spectacle. Despite the buzzing atmosphere of camels, vendors, KFC/Pizza Hut, Sphinx, and yes, the Pyramids, what captivated her young mind was the sand of Giza. Content to let others drool over the imposing structures in the background, she found more pleasure in handling the sand of the desert and immersing herself in the fascination of its fine grains sifting through her fingers. A child's mentality.
But wait. Are we any different? Are we playing in the sand when the Pyramids of Giza lie behind us?
We stress over academic results, job promotions, the outcome of sporting events, expectations of others, or even our physical safety. We earn and save our money to invest into houses, education, vacations, retirement, and emergencies. And for what? To make our seventy-year existence as pleasurable, comfortable, and stable as humanly possible, along with leaving a name for ourself, and possibly an inheritance for the next generation. Noble pursuits, perhaps, but mere sand in the shadow of a Pyramid. The eternal. The Word of God vividly reminds us, "we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
God did not create man merely to exist in time. He did not create us merely to play with sand. Rather, we were created "in His image" (Genesis 1:27) that we might intimately know and experience His love. It is true that we live in a world of heartache, disappointments, disease, and death but these distractions are but reminders of life's brevity. A reminder that there is an enemy seeking to blind our eyes to the reality life's purposes. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6) We can know God who revealed Himself through Jesus, the very "image of the invisible God." (Colossians 1:15) We are not mere creatures of God's creation, but the object of His love. Hard to believe? Yeah. It should be. Takes faith. He conquered sin and death that we might experience true life, eternal life, through the grace (something we don't deserve) of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Life is more than what we see. In fact, that which we see deceives us into reckoning it is the truest reality.
Perhaps we are missing the big picture. Completely. An old nursery rhyme sums it up so appropriately. "Pussycat, pussycat, Where have you been? // I've been to London, To visit the Queen. // Pussycat, pussycat, What did you there? // I frightened a little mouse, Under her chair." Are we focused on the mouse under the chair when in the presence of the Queen? Are we focused on the vain pursuits of this world when the God of the universe offers a personal relationship with Him?
Those who have tasted of truth of Jesus cannot live as before, playing with the sand of this world. (Thus begging the question, have many so-called follower of Christ actually experienced the true Jesus?) Those who have been transformed by the Gospel of Jesus will not continue living for nationalistic ideologies, personal pursuits, or comfortable living. In the words of Jesus, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26)
What is Jesus saying? The only way to follow is to live for the eternal at the expense of the temporal. We have to abandon the gods of idealism, materialism, and nationalism so that this world will see the hope of eternity which transcends race, religion, affiliations, and ethnicities. Rather than pursuing selfish, egotistical, self-exalting pursuits, our time, energy, and resources will be invested into a hurting world so that the love of Jesus may be experienced and known by the nations. Our definition of "emergency" will be redefined by 26,000 children starving to death daily, hundreds of millions of street children, countless lives trapped in the $40,000,000,000+ sex-trafficking market, the millions displaced by war, or the billions still searching for peace and hope for time and eternity. This will induce action rather than a possible future medical problem, a potential financial crisis (since Matthew 6:25-34 is still true, last I checked), or a sudden whim/desire. Our identity will not be found in a political affiliation, citizenship, ideology, or social cause but rather in the truth that there is purpose, meaning, and hope in life and death.
C.S. Lewis put it this way. "Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (excerpt from Weight of Glory)Are you playing with sand? Turn around.
