You Can’t Threaten Me with Heaven
Mark Castellani / Missions and Mobilization, Worship Arts Administrative Assistant
A friend told a story of being held up at gun point. The assailant threatened to shoot him unless he surrendered his wallet. His reply was, “You can’t threaten me with heaven.”
Hmm … you can’t threaten me with heaven?
I had spent a large part of my life doing my best to “succeed” and to make a name for myself: to “succeed” in my career, “succeed” in my marriage, “succeed” in my family … “SUCCEED”!
But along with my striving to “succeed” I lost any joy of living, and I became afraid of dying.
My theme song was Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” It ends with this refrain, “In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade. And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down OR cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame "I am leaving, I am leaving" but the fighter still remains.” If you wanted to know me then and how I felt about life, listen to that song: anger and shame. That was me.
I had thought I found solace in drugs and alcohol. They took the “pain” away until they eventually took me away, completely.
I reached a point in my life, 32 years ago where I no longer wanted to live but I was too afraid to die.
Then Jesus showed up. Jesus showed up in the guise of a big Polish man who became to me, “Mr. Ed, Potato Head” (a twist on his proper name). Ed had once been in the same place I found myself in and he told me that only if I surrendered, surrendered to Jesus, then I would find peace, joy, and a true purpose and meaning to life.
I did. I surrendered. I surrendered to Jesus.
“Mr. Potato Head” then proceeded to show me a practical Christianity, a practical way of living the Christian life. He taught me how to live my “Christianity” in actions and in service to others (James 2:18). He told me that that I had to “give it away in order to keep it” (Proverbs 11:24). He taught me that my REAL purpose in life was to be of maximum service to God and the people about me.
So, I say all of that to bring it to the “moral of the story.”
Now, I KNOW there’s a place for me in Heaven (Ephesians 2:6), and I KNOW that I have ALL that I need on this earth (Matthew 6:25-33; Philippians 4:19), so, “I’m good”, so to speak. I want to use the talents that God gave me to benefit others (Matthew 25:14-30) … to help others both in body and in soul, to show them Jesus and what He has done for me.
Do I still strive for “success”? Worldly success? Sure, I am only human. I am still a man, but day by day I surrender to God. Jesus picks me up, dusts me off and gives me hope of glory (1 John 1:9), but I now strive for something of eternal worth (Philippians 3:14). I no longer worry about dying so much, it’s more about that time when He calls me up, I might perhaps hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Oh, by the way ... that friend who was robbed? Well, he DID end up surrendering his wallet, but he says it wasn’t out of fear of dying. He says he had an opportunity to witness about Jesus to his assailant and for that he says he was truly grateful.