Years ago, when my husband and I first married, we loved a restaurant called Steak and Ale. It was popular specifically for it's fabulous salad bar. It offered a wide variety with no limits and when you finished the salad, it left you with little appetite for steak.
My husband on the other hand liked the salad bar but loved the steak. At any rate, my mother-on-law gave us a gift certificate for dinner at the restaurant. We held on to it waiting for a special occasion. We did not want to use it until the time was right. Furthermore, it was a gift from my mother in law and that made it special.
We were aware that there was an expiration date but expected that we had plenty of time. We do that don't we? We rely on that expiration date and base everything around that date. What we hadn't counted on was that my mother-in-law would pass away from a massive stroke shortly thereafter.
Afterwards, it was difficult for my husband to discuss the gift certificate and it became even more special. Again, knowing it had an expiration date, we realized we had a time frame in which to use it. One day, my husband pulled the gift certificate and said "I just couldn't do it-it was her last gift to us." That was 2006.
We decided to wait just a little bit longer. What we had not counted on was that within weeks and I do mean weeks, the restaurant filed for bancruptcy and closed immediately.
We drove by the restaurant and it was closed. Within a few more days, it was leveled....gone! A fast food restaurant now stands where Steak and Ale once was.
Today, as I searched for a receipe in the inside corner of our kitchen cabinet I saw it...a plain white envelope with Mark written on it in my mother-in-law's handwriting. It has been seven years and he has held on to this for so long.
It's not like he remembers that it's there, it just is. I know how much it grieved him that we had not used it but after the restaurant closed, he still held on as a means to feel her close.
In this case, we could have had a great meal but our decision to hold on to it just a little longer resulted in something much bigger than a meal.
So many times we "put God in the cupboard" only to pull him out when we "need him" or want to feel close to him.
God has given us a lifetime deal with no expiration date. There's no need to hide it, keep it in a safe place, or try to guard it. We just need to take advantage of it and use it. It will never expire.
That gift is the gift of eternal life. No chance of bancruptcy or rejection and the only expiration date is when God calls you home.
We lost out on the restaurant relying on an expiration date. In reality, there were greater things going on that caused the restaurant to fail-much to our disappointment. Don't keep putting off the decision to follow Christ by thinking you have plenty of time. Only He knows the day and time. Why wait for that expiration date?
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade...1 Peter 1:3
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