Category: Sunsets

Hope of Heaven

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Psalm 73:25

Hoping for heaven has sometimes been given a bad rap by the church. Some of this has been a push back on old hymns and past sermons that focused exclusively on heavenly bliss and ignored the importance of our time on earth.  But neither our greatest victories, our worst failures, our highest dreams nor our worst sufferings can compare with what lies ahead for us in heaven.

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When our boys were young they made for themselves wooden plaques with their names carved in them to hang over the doors to their rooms. It was their way of staking out their own personal territory.  In the same way God has staked out a territory in heaven for each of us who have put our hope in Jesus Christ. He has engraved our name over the door of our home there. There is nothing wrong with that great joyful longing to be together forever with Jesus in the place He has prepared for us.  We can say with David, “Who do I have either in heaven or earth but you Lord?”  This hope of heaven strengthens our hearts in life’s storms and lightens our load so we can carry the burdens of others. This hope shines through any dark night and lights our path all the way to our home!

Seeing the Invisible

When we  wish to know the worth of a diamond we take it to a jeweler who takes his magnifying glass and looks at the color, counts the facets and so forth. If we need to sell a property we first call an appraiser who comes and looks carefully at it inside and out to ascertain its market value.While our practice is to value a thing according to its appearance God sees entirely differently.

Consider the story of the widow who gave her two mites. The disciples were quite surprised when Jesus told them that she had given more than all the others. They had clearly seen with their own eyes the two tiny copper coins fall from her hand into the offering box. But what they had seen was nothing in comparison to what Jesus saw of the inner beauty of her love, sacrifice and faith.

In a different circumstance Jesus sat down for dinner with a well dressed wealthy Pharisee named Simon. During their meal the pleasantness of the scene was harshly interrupted by a weeping woman who burst into the room and began kissing the feet of Jesus and wiping them clean with her hair. Simon was shocked! It was well known in his community what flagrant sins this woman had committed. How dare she enter his house, and furthermore how could Jesus (If He really were a prophet) allow himself to be touched by someone like her?

Yet Jesus saw the circumstances quite differently than Simon or you or I. Jesus neither saw the fine tableware nor savored the delicate cuisine. Jesus hadn’t at all been impressed by the beautiful columns or the handcrafted door at the entry of Simon’s home. Instead Jesus saw the cold lack of Simon’s heart. Jesus had noticed that Simon had not given him the customary kiss on the cheek, or offered water for his feet to be washed. Jesus saw quite clearly instead the depth of repentance and gratitude of this woman and treasured that.

God does not see things as we see them and as we enter this new year my prayer is for God to give me His own 20/20 heavenly vision. I earnestly beg and plead to see the value that He sees in others and the worthlessness of so many things to which I cling so tightly. The challenges that we face this year can only be met when seeing and valuing the invisible things of God’skimg0367 eternal worth.

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

We’ll Meet Face to Face

We’ll Meet Face to Face

 

Am I learning to be thankful in the way you told me to?

To have that true and faithful heart that trusts the whole day through?

Will I walk with blinders on seeing just my own small world?

Or can I find the grace and strength to bind another’s wounds?

 

When weakness looms I pull the shades and double lock my door

No limping step, no bleeding lip, no bruises cuts or sores

No fever hot, no icy chills, no loss of any kind

Will I accept within my home just sweet and sunny times

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Yet in the silence of the night when sleep is sliding by

I awake with faith and doubt engaging in a fight

The Spirit stirs and takes a stand while flesh just moans and sighs

Then in my weakest moment when I feel I can’t keep on

My Savior stoops and picks me up and holds me in His arms

 

Son you see these troubles come

While we are in this world

There is a Battle in your soul

To turn you from the goal

But set your eyes upon the prize

That pearl of greatest price

Is waiting for you in my hands

When we meet face to face

 

God is preaching His Sermon

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Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:2

In the storms my God shouts with a loud thunderclap

While on my windows He whispers with the gentle rain’s tap

In my mornings He speaks like the sweet robin’s song

And He calls me to action with the breaking of dawn

With each day my God gives another sermon begins

When I listen I remember He’s forgiven my sins

Then at noonday He pauses and calls me to rest

Because there’s work to be done before His sunsets