From a sermon given on my son’s Confirmation Day, a long time ago.
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John 8:31, 32 — Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
The first word Jesus says in this sentence is ‘if’– ‘IF you continue.’ The gift of salvation is free, but it is not automatic. It is freely given, but there is an ‘if’ in Jesus’ words. ‘If we continue,’ he says. You can lose this gift, you can refuse it, you can abandon Jesus and pay him no attention and then, in the end, God will respect that choice and allow you to have your way. You will then enter eternity without Jesus and be without hope forever. So, says Jesus, ‘continue in my word.’ Do not after this day forget about your faith. Do not let it end here as it does for so many. Continue to live with Jesus because there is nothing more important in all of life.
This past week at our house we have been cleaning and getting ready for the guests that are here today for Matthew’s confirmation. My job was to clean the garage and make room for a couple of tables. I was taking some things out and putting them into the storage room, and as I was doing that, I came across a couple of heavy boxes. I looked inside and saw that the boxes were filled with Matthew’s old toys. There were a bunch of building blocks, some toy trucks and tractors, and a whole bunch of little matchbox cars. The paint is all chipped off of most of them from many hours of play, from summers and winters out in the sandbox, and from many crashes and rollovers on the sidewalk in front of our house. Just a few years ago, these were the most important things in Matthew’s life. He would play with them every day, he would take them wherever he went, and when his mother would return from the store, he would always check the bags to see if she brought him another one. They were Matthew’s favorite possessions. Now they all just sit there in a box in the corner of the storage room, abandoned and forgotten. Matthew has moved on to other things.
When you are 15 other things are important– basketballs, footballs, and baseballs; band instruments and school schedules; paychecks and driving permits. I have in another box at home a few items from my own high school days– school year books, awards, pictures, and report cards– all important to me at one time, but now sitting in a neglected box. I long ago went on to other things. Confirmands, you also will soon be on to other things.
I also have some other boxes in the house. There is a box of bank statements and old checks and tax papers, records of money earned and money spent over the years. There are papers in that box that bring back memories of some big headaches and of a few pleasant surprises. Now it all just sits there in a box. And I have a box of mementos and letters and keepsakes from loved ones, some of whom are long dead, filled with many more memories. I’m not much of a saver, but I hang on to a few things, and these boxes have gone along on every move. Maybe you have some boxes like that. We go through life day to day, year after year, and the relics of a lifetime collect and end up in boxes stuffed here and there. We change, the people around us change, we let go of some things and activities, we take hold of others, and then, before long we are on to something else. And as we go, those things we cannot part with go into boxes. And the boxes all sit there until one day, we ourselves get put into a box and put away. And then someone else will come in and throw all our boxes away.
Several years ago I was asked to be the personal administrator of the estate of an old bachelor I used to visit. It was my job to wrap up the man’s life. I had to sell two acres and a house, auction off the household goods, and go through all of his boxes. There were boxes of old and current financial papers, boxes of family and wartime mementos, boxes of papers from some complicated legal business and from some long-ago political involvement, and more. Piece by piece I went through everything, throwing away all that was not needed for the settling of the estate. And as I did so, this man’s mark in the world was being erased. Piece by piece, the record of his life was being discarded. After I sold the land, the accumulated possessions of a lifetime were carried off from the auction in all different directions. Then, there were only a few boxes left to go through, which were then reduced to one box, and after I finished with that, all that remained was one thin file folder. With my job completed, I signed the final papers with the attorney, left the folder in his office, and walked out, closing the book on a man’s life. It was a strange feeling. There was at that point nothing left but a few memories in a few old heads. Now, ten years later, most of them are gone.
I do realize that none of this is very much on the minds of any of you 15-year-olds. But it is true and it will happen to you also. You have seen it happen to others already, and it will keep happening– to everything you care about now, and to everything and everyone you ever will care about. The old toys packed away in the box on that shelf in the garage tell the story of life. We let go of some things and go on to others, until our time ends and we go on no more.
But if you do what Jesus says, and continue in Him and trust in him, then that ‘continuing’ can go on forever. There will always be something else up ahead. You will always have a future because Jesus promises another life in another home, an eternal life that will not be marred by endings, good-byes, and an ever-smaller world and shorter future. All those boxes stuffed away on all those shelves represent things we have, over time, put a certain amount of trust in– for fun and entertainment, for financial security, for love and companion-ship, for home and health. But it all gets left behind. Only our trust in Jesus lasts forever, as he promises that we will one day rise from the dead and live forever with him. So, as your confirmation verse says, continue in him and his word, stay close to Jesus, trust in him, and you’ll be all right, now and forever.
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Bless our children, O Lord, with healthy bodies, with good understandings, with the graces and gifts of your spirit, with cheerful dispositions and holy habits, and keep them in the faith until the coming of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
–Jeremy Taylor, English writer and Anglican bishop (1613-1667)
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