This morning in church I held up for the children two soft-drink cans and asked them which of the two cans they would choose.  Well, that was a no brainer.  It wasn’t much of a choice because the cans were an identical brand.  But that changed when I pointed out that although the cans were identical the contents were not.  One can contained only fresh air; the other can contained a passionfruit soft-drink.  It was no longer difficult for the children to work out their preference.  My drink-cans became an object lesson when I pointed out that people can be like those drink cans.  Some people are full of the presence of God others are running on empty.

I asked the children which of the cans had the greater value.  Of course it’s not only full drink-cans that have value.  Printed on most soft-drink cans these days is a little message that if you take an empty drink-can to a recycling depot you will receive a 10 cent refund for your can.  But the value of a full can is much greater and hovers around the dollar mark.  So too the Bible teaches that we all have value.  All human beings are made in the image of God and therefore we all have value.  But the Bible also teaches that those whose lives are filled by the presence of Jesus are much more precious to Almighty God.  That’s worth thinking about – particularly when you face your mortality.  To use my analogy of the cans: at you demise will you be stepping out of this life and into eternity as an empty ten cent drink-can or as a one dollar soft-drink?

There was one other important question that I had to ask the kids this morning.  You see it’s all very nice to talk about what we are worth to God when we come to die, but what about the here and now?  Too often Christianity is seen as pie in the sky when we die by and by.  I’ve always taken great delight in pointing out that, to the contrary, Christianity is about pie-on-the-plate on this very date.  So I asked the children which of the two cans would be easier to crush with your bare hands?  The obvious consensus was that empty cans are far more crushable than full ones.  At that point I confess I chickened out.  The front of a church is not the place to spray sugary soft-drink.  The point is that a full soft-drink can is able to be crushed, however with much more difficulty.  And that takes me back to the pie on the plate.  When we are filled with the presence of God we have a resiliency that gives us strength to handle the very worst that life can throw at us moment by moment.

That came home to me on one occasion with special force.  I called in one morning to a nursing home where I made pastoral visits to a number of residents.  On this particular morning there was quite a buzz at the nursing station where there was just a change of shifts.  I asked the director what all the lively discussion was all about.  She pointed out to me that during the previous night two elderly female residents had both died at opposite ends of the facilities.  At one end of the building an angry woman was using her last breath to hurl curses at heaven, as well as at the medical fraternity, for letting her die.  When she could no longer scream her obscenities at God her muttered curses could still be heard until her breathing stopped.  At the other end of the building another elderly lady who lay dying was surrounded by her family who were singing songs of praise to God.  She was joining in with them until with her last breath she could sing no more.  The contrast between those two women made a huge impression on the staff.  Here was one woman who was filled with the presence of God and another woman who was running on empty.

I guess that leaves you with some choices that you may need to make.  Which of the two drink containers best represents you?

John Westendorp