So recently, I met with a friend who had a dog named Mabo.
In explaining to the boys the significance of the name, I read to them a little of the legal battle surrounding Eddie Mabo and the others from Torres Strait.
As always, I realised just how little I knew and found it very enlightening as we went briefly through terms like “terra nullius” and the largely unknown laws that our nation is built on.
Today, being the anniversary of the landmark decision, I was thinking about the practice of people paying tribute to the original owners (or caretakers) of the land. I can see that some people’s intentions in this are very noble.
But for me, a question comes to mind…
“If it is so important to pay homage to, to think about, to honour people who have lived on a piece of land, how much more important is it to do far more for the One who actually created the land?“
This land is so incredible, so vast, so diverse and *so* rich, the Creator of it deserves our praise.
And even more than that, the people who have lived here from then to now – *they* were created by Him too!
Not ‘just’ the land, but the very beings on the land, lovingly imagined, perfectly created and ultimately sustained by a loving, all powerful, knowing Being.
A Being that doesn’t not discriminate on ‘race’ or colour or tradition but sends a clear message of love to all: a message that gets tainted and twisted easily. A message that used and abused regularly, A message that can seem absurd and can be ignored. But a message that can bring life and total transformation too. I can attest to that!
It is a message that says this being loved people so much – the indigenous, the red, the yellow, the black and the white – that He sent His only Son to the very same earth He created. He didn’t send Him to the earth to seek revenge or go on a rampage. He sent Him to earth to pay the huge price – the fine – that these people racked up through choosing to live life their own way.
Violating the laws set in place by the Creator, they followed what they wanted, what they loved, what felt good. Acting in ways that He found offensive, the fine was not small.
In fact, the fine was so great, it could only be paid by an eternity in hell – the ultimate punishment: being banished from the presence of this Being full of love.
SO great the love, this being’s Son, Jesus, willingly walked the earth, gave up His rights, put up with torture, false accusation and torturous execution. While vile, it paid in full the fine for all those who would accept.
The people who walk this land all owe the Creator a great debt. Including you and me.
That debt, our debt, has been paid, paid in full. Paid with the very blood of the Son of the Creator. And it covers *all* who put their faith & hope in what Jesus has done. My prayer is that you would. Today. Right now.
More than honouring previous inhabitants of the land.
More than the religion you were taught as a child
More than your own ‘good’ actions or deeds
More than your job or business
This is life. True life. Everlasting life.
Australia is incredible. It is vast and diverse. But it, along with everything in it, will all cease to exist one day. So will the rest of the planet and the universe. Nothing will survive.
Only the pure, the forgiven, will get to be with the Creator.
I hope you will be counted in that number. Brothers & sisters of the One who created everything.
Sons & daughters of the King of Kings – forever in heavenly life, the way it was intended!