Heaven

Treasures

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Psalms 27:13

I dreamed I stood at heaven’s door

And heard its hinges creak

Around its frame a light shone out

As it opened for the King

“What have you brought?” He began to ask

“From your time on earth now through”

I wasn’t sure what I could say

I knew it had to be the truth

So I talked about my mission’s trips

And how each day I prayed

And how I often read His word

And all the tithes I gave

When I finally stopped to take a breath

He smiled and gently said

“Those were not really from your heart

They were just rituals instead”

“But the forgiveness you gave your parents

When their divorce left you alone

And the love you shared with strangers

When you opened up your home

And sorrowful repentant tears

And confessions in the night

Those are the things I treasure most

And are precious in my sight!”

gold beaded necklaces on gold jewelry box

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Preparing a Home for Jesus

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Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him; and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 ESV

When we Christians think of heaven we generally focus on how Jesus has a place prepared for us there. But heaven is not just some geographical place we go to live; it is God coming to live with us. So how can we prepare a place for Him? The good news is that we can’t; but Jesus can!

Now it isn’t exactly like what happened when we had some remodeling done in our kitchen but it does share some certain points. First; we needed to realize that the repairs needed were more than we could handle. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “If any man hears my voice and opens the door.”

KIMG1580Our job was to open the door when our contractors showed up. Imagine if instead of letting the kitchen installers in, we just started hammering away ourselves. That is what we do when we leave Jesus outside our door. He has everything necessary to remodel our hearts but first we have to let Him in.

 

On the other hand; unlike our project; Jesus doesn’t just plan on showing up, doing his work and going home. Jesus said that He wanted to come in, sit down and stay. His plan begins by demolishing our old life along with our sins on the cross. Then He follows up with all the changes and new materials needed being installed through His resurrection. When He has finished His job we will discover that Heaven is simply where He sits down at our kitchen table and enjoys a meal with us forever in that place inside of us which only He can prepare!

 

 

He Matches Our Pace

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

The funny thing about walking is that we never know what a gift it is until we can’t do it. For the last two days it became too painful for me to walk or even sit for long. I am so thankful to God that my hip decided to quiet down last night.

Today as I resumed my morning walk by the pond it struck me how God walks with us. He chooses to match our pace because we can not keep up with Him.

When we are little children He runs along with us. When we are teenagers he zigs and zags through our growing pains. In adulthood He sticks by our side through every wilderness and storm. Now that I have begun my senior laps I discovered that He slows to match my halting stride. By faith we can walk anywhere with Jesus, who promises to be our walkway to the Father. Thank God for our Savior Jesus Christ who chose to walk the rough hillside path to Calvary. He painfully slowed His pace to match ours so that He could lead us all the way home to Heaven!