Eternal life

The Heavenly Price Tag

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment 
I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels. Psalm 22:14 KJV

As a teenager I always remembered the Christmas presents I got from my stepmother Amy, because when she bought me beautiful and expensive clothes, she always left the price tag on! Now, it was not that Amy was bothered by spending the money, but she wanted to be sure that I treated her gifts with special care! In some ways God is a lot like Amy because He loves lavishing us with His grace, but He also wants us to know its cost. When we are singing about our salvation, home in Heaven or the forgiveness of our sins we should humbly remember the price of those gifts.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said that His soul was sorrowful unto death, and He agonized in prayer in order to accept the suffering of the cross that lay ahead. He begged His Father asking if there were any other way and then sweat ran down His face like great drops of blood. Then just hours after Jesus had finished praying, His hands and feet were nailed to the cross. The Bible tells us that He was poured out like water. Finally, a long spear pierced His side and then the last drops of HIs blood flowed down the cross to the ground. So, today when we bow our heads to thank God for any of His blessings, we should also look again at the price tag that is still attached. Though Jesus gave Himself freely for our salvation, we will treat His gift with greater loving care, when we are reminded of the astronomically high price that He paid for us!

The Road to Our Shepherd’s Home

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures... And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:1;6b ESV

Hidden within Psalm twenty-three is the story of an invitation for us to follow God on a journey that starts with green pastures and ends at HIs home. But today, living in between those two bookends, usually includes ups and downs, confusing moments, and even some personal failures. But through everything we go through, God is teaching us to trust Him. First, we need to trust Him enough to follow the straight and narrow path that leads towards a dangerous looking valley. Along the way, we will hear howling wolves prowling around on the hilltops on either side of our pathway, and sometimes we may wonder if we should just turn around and run away but we need to remind ourselves that we are not alone. Our Good Shepherd is still with us and if we look to the Shepherd, we will see that He isn’t worried, and then He smiles at us and points to the heavy rod tucked in His belt, and He reminds us that He knows exactly how to deal with wolves. Then, He takes HIs staff and tapping our side gently, turning us sometimes to the left other times to the right. Then, if we keep following, the narrow path widens out into a meadow, where we will see a beautiful table that our Shepherd has prepared filled with delicious food, set up here in this most unexpected place. After eating, our Shepherd pours a bit of oil on His hands and then massages it into the wool on our head and around our ears. This rest has been delightful, but soon, it is time to head out again. Our Shepherd leads us back on the road, but this time He smiles, pointing behind, where we see His goodness and mercy following us, almost like sheepdogs, every step of the way. Finally, just up ahead, the road comes to an end, in front of a strangely familiar house. Though we have never seen this place before, as we look closely, we suddenly realize that this is the place that God has been telling us about from the beginning. Then as we eagerly get ready to step through the door, our Shepherd stops one final time and reminds us that our long journey has only been possible, because before we began, He laid down His life for us!

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A New Song

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth Revelation 14:3 ESV

Many years ago, I used to stop on Wednesday afternoons to visit an elderly couple, and I brought my guitar along to sing them a few songs. Though they only had a tiny apartment, the way they welcomed me made me feel as if I were visiting a palace. For companionship my friends kept two little parakeets in a cage by the front window. Whether rays of sunshine or raindrops were on that windowpane, those two always had a song, but their gentle tweeting picked up a notch or two when I started strumming my guitar.

Sometimes they would leave the cage door open and on rare occasions, they would decide to fly out and pass by so close to my head that I felt the brush of wings as they flew past. Then they would swoop up to the highest point above the kitchen cabinets where they would perch and watch the show from their balcony seats!

My two elderly friends have now taken their own places in a heavenly choir, but some days I imagine them standing there with their two little parakeets close by, waiting for me to join them one day with my guitar. And I won’t at all be surprised, if that day I feel the brush of wings on my face as two little birds pass by on their way to their balcony seats to join us as together, we join that great new song above!

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