Take Me to Your Leader (33)

Wasn't E.T. a cute little alien? “Elliiiaaahht.” It grossed $11 million on opening day (1982) and remained on top at the box office for six weeks. Do you remember how when Eliott found him, he knew something was special despite a healthy fear of the unknown? He hid him from his family as long as he could, mostly due to not knowing how they would react. But Eliott was certain he knew how the public and media would react. Sure enough, when they found out, E.T. was captured and Eliott feared the worst would ensue: a battery of tests, possible dissection, E.T. would be made a spectacle. Even though Eliott could have only wished to keep E.T. with him – along with a lifetime supply of Reese’s Pieces to feed his new friend – E.T. longed for his home. Using old toys and electronics, E.T. used his ingenuity to fashion a communicator using a Speak & Spell. He desperately longed to be home. He never belonged here. Earth was never his home.

Do you remember how you felt when you watched it for the first time? Were you like me and kind of hoped there was a way Eliott could have kept him? Were you saddened like me when E.T. left Eliott and headed off to his real home?

As I read Hebrews 11, you begin to see how from the beginning, God was turning hearts toward him and, when others saw it, many times they didn’t understand. It is an entire chapter on the legacy of faith and the results of faith. Faith that quenched the fury of the flames, escaped the edge of the sword, made weak men strong, and raised men and women to life again. Amazing feats of God happened as a result of faith. However, great evil followed as a result. Faith had people flogged, chained and imprisoned, stoned, sawed in two, and killed by the sword. The world tried and continues to try to make a spectacle of them.

If you are a follower of Christ, this is what may come to you. Should you look forward to it? Not necessarily, yet many times Paul mentioned how he wanted to suffer like Christ so that he might be made more perfect in His likeness (v. 40). We shouldn’t, however, be surprised that if we are truly devoted, having a faith that is sure of what cannot be seen (v. 1), then we are also like aliens who not only do not belong, but also very much look forward to what God has planned for us, in a home being made ready for us.

Rather than trying to be an alien who desires to hold on to things here on earth, let’s don’t ask “Take me to your leader” and try to stay, but rather use our own Speak & Spell (i.e. prayer) and call home. Let’s look to our Father and long to be home with Him.

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Hebrews 11:32-40

33 days!