Heaven

Where is Our Hope?

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Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by          
Excerpt from Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti

I’m not much for remembering long pages of flowing verse from Dylan Thomas or T.S. Elliott, but what stays with me are tiny snippets of poetry that take quiet walks with me when I am alone. This week as I was struggling though some personal issues I remembered Christina Rossetti’s line, “But when the trees bow down their heads” and God gently quieted by heart. I had been making a fuss about things I could not understand like a crying child who refuses to take his afternoon nap. But like the perfect Father that He is, God comforted me with the reminder that faith is the way He chooses for everyone to walk with Him.

Sure, Moses saw the burning bush and Peter got to see Jesus transformed on the mountain. But for the vast majority of us, our faith is built on somewhat less spectacular experiences. In fact Peter himself points out that our hope and joy is based on a Jesus who we have never seen.

 And though you have never seen him, yet I know that you love him. At present you trust him without being able to see him, and even now he brings you a joy that words cannot express and which has in it a hint of the glories of Heaven; 1 Peter 1:8 Phillips Version

Some of you are probably struggling with loneliness, sickness or heartache, wishing that Jesus would just show up and fix things. It would be great to see God swing into action like Spiderman, just as our enemies close in, but He has a better way! His solution does not depend on anything we can see, but on the unseen love of Jesus Christ. We believe not because we have seen, but because we have experienced God’s gift of joy by means of a faith that gives with us, “A hint of heaven” and God’s Spirit whispers, “That hint is more than enough! “

Children the World Forgot

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One day we’ll meet in heaven

Children the world forgot

See tiny hands and toes

And their noses that God wrought

We’ll hear their little songs

Whose notes were stilled too soon

As they worship their creator

Who led them safely home

Children The World Forgot by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved

At the Altar

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But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Revelation 2:4

As Jesus spoke to the church in Ephesus He began by listing all the great things about them. They had been faithful, worked hard, held up under persecution and had stayed away from false teachers. Sounds like the best church in town! But then Jesus brings up the burden of His heart; they have left their first love for Him.

Photo by Caio on Pexels.com

It might seem to us that He is being hard on them, but the Bible tells us that we are the bride of Jesus Christ. As Heaven’s bridegroom, He is waiting at the altar in heaven and His heart is a longing to be with His bride. But sometimes when He looks down the aisle He notices that something is changing. His bride’s heart who once loved spending time in His presence is now very busy. She still thinks from time to time of Him, but she is also quite involved in a lot of other things. So many things seem so important that her schedule is full with only a few moments left for Jesus.

Then He looks and sees His people not only too busy for Him, but also too busy to bother much about telling others about their need for Him. His heart is longing to see us again totally living for him. What will it take for us to go back to our first love? How will we ever return to where we once were? Jesus tells us clearly. He does not say; “Feel really bad and cry and pray.” He does not add, “Give some more money to the church.” He doesn’t even say, “Go out and start feeding folks at the soup kitchen.”  All of those things are only a pale substitute for the “First Love” that Jesus has in mind.

So if giving money, doing good works or crying at the altar doesn’t bring back our first love, what will? Jesus says; do what we did at the beginning. Did we used to ask forgiveness of people we had hurt? Let’s do that again. Did we once call friends and family to tell them how Jesus changed our lives? Let’s not give up. Have we taken risks to get out and talk to others we came across in our daily lives about their need for him? Let’s get back to work!

Jesus didn’t say to wait for an impulse, a tear or a leading; nor do I need to do what you once did. I only need to remember what I once did, and then do it again! Jesus has given each of us a candle and it shines so we can see the truth about ourselves and repent.

That word repentance sounds harsh, but it is our bridegroom’s heartfelt appeal for us to remember the treasure of our relationship with Him. He warns us if we won’t use the light we will lose it. But if we repent and return to our first love He promises that at the altar He will give us fruit from the tree of life!