Home Is Where the Heart Is

Our whirlwind tour of the southeastern United States has come to an end and I got to tell you it is great to be back home in south Florida; warm temperatures, flip flops and shorts. Now don’t get me wrong, I love to go “home” for the holidays and see family, friends, share, love and visit. It is a great time, but there is something about getting back to your “home”; your bed, comfortable surroundings.

It brought to mind something we experienced before our travels. My wife and I were attending a Christmas party a good distance from our home and we asked to borrow our daughter’s GPS; a remarkable device for getting places. Anyway, we go to our party using no directions and only the GPS and the address. We arrive without a hitch and have a wonderful time at the celebration. After the party, we start home and notice on the GPS there is a home key. We select the home key and off we go. Now mind you we have no real idea where we are and we are following the directions of a computer voice; turn left in 300 feet. We notice we are not going back the same way we came which is possible due to one way streets and all, but we get a little concerned.

Suddenly my wife says; what if home means her house at college and we quickly selected the view route function on the GPS to ensure we were headed to our home. We were, but it did cause me to think about this word home. It could mean so much and so many things. I started thinking about sayings for home; home sweet home, there’s no place like home and finally home is where the heart is. Aren’t they all true, but I really connected with home is where the heart is. No matter what the conditions, no matter the place; home is where your heart is and what is in your heart.

It brought to mind John 15:4 (The Message);

4"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

So no matter where we are or what we are doing with Christ in our hearts we are “HOME”. So as we head into the New Year; my hope is that we all make our home in Christ!

Grace and Peace!

Rejoice!

In the last blog, I stated how much I was thinking about Christmas and I went down this path of living with expectant hope; hope and confidence that it is better farther on. I liken this to my childhood and the night before Christmas. I was so excited that I could barely sleep. As a child I was experiencing this expectant hope for Christmas. I was so hopeful of what tomorrow might bring. I know that sounds pretty materialistic, but I am only trying to illustrate the feeling that as I mature I might experience again with the knowledge of Christ and what lies ahead.

Now if we can buy into this expectant hope, it begs the question what are we to do about it? I say we can answer it in one word…rejoice! In Philippians 4:4 we see;

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

This word; rejoice, is very interesting. I recently had the pleasure of hearing someone speak about this word. It has ancient roots and can mean to be exceedingly happy or glad. This person went on to say that to rejoice is more than an action, it is a deep rooted feeling and he used the illustration that it would be much like the joy of a child opening presents at Christmas. He goes on to say that to truly rejoice will require a mental awareness of all the things in life that we have to rejoice about; every breath, every meal, every relationship, and every blessing. Yes, we have so much to rejoice about. So shouldn’t we rejoice about the greatest gift; the gift of our Lord and Savior!

What a comfort, that as a family of believers we can live with the expectant hope that it will be better farther on! This Christmas let us take heart; let us rejoice. As David tells us in Psalm 16;

8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

This Christmas, may your heart be glad, your tongue rejoice, and your body rest secure because Christ will not abandon us. Merry Christmas my friends!

Grace and Peace!

Great Expectations

You know I have been thinking a lot about Christmas and what it means to me. It has been a good introspective journey for me. Right now I am focused on Isaiah 9:6;

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

No doubt this is a fine Christmas passage, but I really started to think about how this verse written by Isaiah centuries before the birth of Christ impacted the people of that day and how it should impact each of us. There is a classic book called “Great Expectations” written by Charles Dickens and while I will never pretend to be a literary expert what I can recall is that it was the story of a man, his struggles, his life and while he did slip ultimately he held out this great hope of living happily ever after. I would call this an expectant hope.

I believe at least for me that this is the lesson of Isaiah 9:6. We should live with an expectant hope. I read somewhere that the difference between wishful thinking and expectant hope is faith. That touches me deep down for some reason and with faith and our expectant hope we can move forward through this thing called life. I see the path in Philippians 3:12-14;

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

So one lesson for me this Christmas season is to live with this great expectant hope. Pressing on toward the goal for which God has called me heavenward. May we all press on with this great expectant hope that it will be better farther on; pressing on because Christ will return and pressing on because Christ will restore. There is a great hymn called “It is better farther on” and it contains the following lyrics;

When my faith took hold on Jesus, Light divine within me shone,
And I know since that glad moment, “It is better farther on.”
I have plunged into the fountain, Flowing free for everyone;
I am saved and Hope is singing, “It is better farther on.”
Farther on, but how much farther? Count the milestones one by one;
No, no counting, only trusting—“It is better farther on.”
Rest, my soul, in hope forever, all my doubts and fears are gone;
Jesus is my Savior, Keeper—“It is better farther on.”

Press on everyone; no counting only trusting; it is better farther on! Live with expectant hope grounded by faith in our Lord and Savior, our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, our Everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace.

Grace and Peace!

Rescued

I think I am about to embark on a very slippery slope. I know that I would much rather focus on the positive aspects of my Christian faith; the grace, the mercy, the love. However, recently I have been drawn to a part of Colossians that has just come alive for me. Colossians 1:13-14;

13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I know these verses have a very positive and uplifting affect – at least on me. However, this morning I am really focused on being rescued. That can be a tough thing to think about, but why do we need rescuing, rescuing from what and just exactly how did we get into this position?

Recently our Pastor gave us the homework to go and read the Jonathon Edwards sermon “Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God”. It is an amazing, convicting, challenging call to everyone. Edwards based the sermon on Deuteronomy 32:35;

35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

In this sermon Edwards so correctly reminds us of our depravity, our brokenness, our need of rescue. He reminds us of the precarious footing of our lives and that if we aren’t rescued the consequences are harsh, punishing and eternal. In a particularly vivid description Edwards writes; “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. -- By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.”

Can you see what a predicament we are in? Can you see that any second our foot could slip? Can you see that we are in dire need of being rescued through an atoning sacrifice which in and of itself is the greatest most indescribable act of love?

You know there are many Christian views on end times, but our assistant pastor shared with me that one of his seminary professors told him there were only three things you really need to know about end times. 1. Christ will return, 2. Christ will judge, and 3. Are you ready?

Think about that for a while! Thanks be to our God for the rescuing hand of Christ; our Savior!

Grace and Peace