The year is 1968. The Viet Nam war is in full swing and Jim has just gotten his draft notice. After basic training and AIT, he gets a 12-month assignment to Viet Nam with a thirty-day leave beforehand. During his home leave he spends every moment he can with his new and lovely bride. Finally, before leaving, he takes her to a studio to have a portrait made of her. He wants the best wallet picture possible to carry with him everywhere he goes.
Tenderly Jim holds his bride upon his final departure and promises always to remain true to her. He tells her that her picture will be his greatest treasure and that it will always remind him of her.
He does as he had promised. Every morning he takes her picture out and admires it. Every evening before retirement he looks at it again and renews his affections for her. Her picture is his constant companion and greatest treasure while overseas. Through all the tensions and life-threatening situations of war, Jim never looses nor forgets his picture. The edges tell of frequent handling. It becomes his solace and brings him peace. He guards it with his life. Indeed, it becomes his life. It seems it is the only thing worth living for. He shows it to all his buddies proudly saying, "This is my wife."
Jim is lucky. He makes it through the war alive and soon he is on his way home again. As he flies over the Pacific Ocean he carefully pulls out his most prized possession. Lovingly he looks at that pretty smiling face and expressive eyes that have been his constant companion for so long.
Upon embarking in the United States again, he is met by the one the picture has been reminding him of for so long. She screams with joy as she runs to meet him. "Jim! Oh, Jim!" she cries, "You made it!"
Imagine her surprise and sudden hurt when Jim pushes her away! "Who are you?" he inquires.
"I'm your wife," she cries.
"I'm sorry," Jim says, "you must be mistaken. I have my wife right here in my billfold. I don't need anything other than this picture! I've told all my buddies that this is my wife. This wife has stayed with me through all my loneliness and dangers of Viet Nam. This is my greatest treasure. I don't need you!"
Of course, Jim would be admitted for some psychiatric help, but in reality, that is exactly what the Jewish nation did when Jesus came down.
The whole sanctuary service represented Him. It was a picture of His work and ministry. But somehow oddly, sadly when He came, they didn't know Him. "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). They didn't want to recognize Him. As the evidence began to mount that His life matched the picture and the prophecies exactly, they saw that they would have to surrender their pride.
They saw that their prized possession, the temple, would not be all that important any more. They didn't realize it was only a miniature replica of a more glorious sanctuary in heaven. They clutched their picture to themselves and forgot the person that had made it important to them in the first place. They forgot that the law enshrined in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary was a mere "copy" (Hebrews 8:5) of the eternal law that even angels adore.
They clung to the "shadow" (Hebrews 8:5) and despised the One who loved them. They outwardly honored the law, etched in stone, but they rejected the Person with God's law etched in His flesh and blood the One who said, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8; John 6:38).
Today we cherish the sign of the cross. People wear it on necklaces and lapels. Homes have them on their walls. They are built on church steeples and walls. We sing about it and preach about it. Pictures of Jesus Himself are multiplied. But friend, wouldn't it be awful if we were to make the same mistake as the Jews did and forget what that cross means to us personally?
Author Unknown
 | Precious Memories
by Alan Jackson; Price: $9.76 (49% off)
Customer Review: A few decades ago nearly every country singer had at least one--often more--gospel albums in their catalog. Today, aside from gospel veteran Amy Grant, who balances the sacred and secular, and Randy Travis, that concept has long faded. For Alan Jackson, however, treating the musical past as present has been a way of life, as it is with these 15 tim... [read more] |
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