"Finally Home"

I was sitting poolside at The Haven when the song "Finally Home" by MercyMe came on with the rain pouring down around me. The first line of the song was talking about wrapping your arms around your Father's neck. My initial thought was that when I come home, I am going to get to hug my Dad for the first time in a year. I'll also get to hug the rest of my family and my friends when I get to see them again. And then the song continued. And I realized that it was talking of going home to our Heavenly Father. 


By the pool next to the Nile 


As the song continued, I thought about what home meant to me. Home here on this earth is being with the people you love. And that made me realize that never again on this earth will I ever feel at home. I have people that I love all over this world. And I don't think my heart will ever be content again being in one place. However, I think that's how this life is supposed to be lived. We are supposed to love others and give pieces of our heart to them. And when we're apart, part of loving them includes missing them. 

This earth and this world and these bodies that we live in are all temporary. It's a minuet second in time compared to the vast majority of our existence that will be spent worshipping and exalting our God. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. " - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV

Reflection in the Nile  
We're not called to lead easy lives. We're called to love and serve one another. And often times that comes with heartache and pain. But it's all for the greater good.  "We love because he first loved us." - 1 John 4:19 NIV. And what did that love look like for him? That love meant God giving up his one and only Son. It meant sacrifice. It meant watching him suffer on the cross to atone for the sins of the people He created and who turned against Him. It meant reconciling us back to him through Jesus's death and resurrection. Jesus died for me. And he died for you. He suffered to allow us to be in close relationship with God. He suffered to allow us to overcome death. He suffered so that the Holy Spirit might reside in us. 

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." - 1 John 4:9-10 NIV

Sunset before the storm 

Am I worthy of such love? I don't think so. But God did. Which means I am worthy of that love. And you are worthy of that love too. 

So when God calls me, I will follow him. I will love the people around me, even though it means losing pieces of my heart to those around this world. I will never again be "home" here on this earth. But that helps me remember that I'm not really home here. None of us are. Our home is in Heaven, where we will once again be reunited with our Heavenly Father for all of eternity. I pray for everyone during this Easter season that we might remember the true meaning behind it. Christ died on the cross so that we might live. He overcame the grave and conquered death. He won the battle for you and for me. He is our Savior, now and forevermore. Amen.

The next morning

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23 NIV

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 4, 2015 at 3:03 PM

    I love you and am glad I gave you a piece of my heart, Betty.

    ReplyDelete

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