The Envelope Please...

 "Open it! Open it!"

Ever watch little children at a birthday party when it's time for presents? Eyes bright with expectation, jumping up and down, clapping hands, and giggling. They can hardly wait for the birthday kid to open the gifts. Why? It's not their birthday. Not their gifts. But they joyfully anticipate learning what delightful secrets are hidden inside the brightly wrapped boxes. It's a mystery they can't wait to unravel.

That's the picture I get when I read Roman. 8:19: "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." Have you ever really pondered what that verse means? It means no one but God knows who His children are.

This verse hints at Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13. Tares (weeds) look exactly like wheat as they grow together. Eager workers wanted to search the field for tares and pull them up, but the farmer said no. Not yet. Jesus was comparing this field to the His followers. Believers and unbelievers live and work side by side and no one knows the difference. Sometimes even they don't know. The rest of creation doesn't know either who is really a child of God and who is a tare. An imitator.

Imagine that. Even the angels of heaven don't know. Only God does. All creation is jumping up and down, crying out to Jesus: "Open it! Open it!" Salvation is a mystery to the rest of creation. It is a concept only possible for human beings. 

Do you wait eagerly for the children of God to be revealed? Or does that idea scare you to death? We don't need to try to rip up the tares. Jesus promised that His holy angels will do that when He comes again. 

But be sure you are not a tare. If you wonder about it, please see this link and make certain that when the gifts are opened, you are delighted.