I'm heading home!

    

     

   

     Life is a journey, and a journey according to the dictionary means "an act of travelling from one place to another.”  When someone says they're taking a trip or going on a vacation, the first thing we ask is, "Oh really, where are you going?"  If someone wanted me to join them on an excursion, I'd want to know where we were headed before I made my decision.  I mean, a trip to the dump or a European river cruise would definitely generate different levels of excitement. 

    (Sorry, any of my dumpster-diving friends, I'm going with the cruise!)  So, when I say life is a journey, you may ask, "Oh really, where are you headed?"  Well, I'm glad you asked because I'm goin' home.  Usually, when you hear someone say they're going home it means they're going back to the place of their childhood, right?  We say we're going home for Christmas, or going home to visit the folks, or going home for any number of reasons.  And all of those usually mean going back to what was. To a piece of our past.  But I'm "goin’ home" to a place I've never been.  A home reserved in Heaven for me.  

     You know, when God first created the earth, it was PERFECT.  The ideal place to live, if we can even imagine that in our day and age.  Perfect beauty, perfect climate, perfect environment.  It was His gift to man.  God made man perfect with an eternal soul and gave him the perfect place to live.  

      God also gave man the gift of choice.  I don't think we realize what a costly gift that was.  Have you ever thought that if God had made us without the ability to make choices, we would still live in a perfect world?  We would never know pain, death, or suffering.  The weather would be perfect, and we would always do the right thing.  But, we would just be robotic.  We would have no emotion.  We wouldn't know love because love is choosing to give of ourselves to meet the needs of the ones we love.  We wouldn't know hurt because hurt is a sign that we've chosen to care and been disappointed.  We wouldn't know the sweetness of a dream fulfilled or the sense of accomplishment in reaching a life-long goal we’ve chosen to undertake.  We would never do anything on a whim or have the freedom to change our mind.  We would be alive but not enjoy the experience of life.  So, God in love gave man the gift of choice.  And here's the part that completely amazes me.  Before He created us, He knew that if He gave us the gift of choice we would choose to reject Him.  And, He knew if we chose to reject Him, He would be the one who would have to suffer and die to restore us and rescue us from Hell because of that choice.  And yet knowing all that, He said, "Let us make man..."  Knowing what it would cost Himself, He made man anyway.  Can we even begin to comprehend that kind of love?

 

"Amazing love,

How can it be

that Thou my God

should'st die for me."

-Charles Wesley

 

    But the journey doesn't end there.  Because of man's choice to disobey God, this world is now temporary.  The effects of sin are seen everywhere we look.  If you watch the news for five minutes, you know we no longer inhabit the world God wanted us to enjoy.  The Bible says the earth groans like a woman in labor.  Well, that's one thing I know a thing or two about, having been a "woman in labor" ten times myself.  Tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis.  None of those were a part of God's original creation.  Add to that the burden the earth feels because of the weight of sin.  When Cain killed his brother Abel in the first-ever murder, God told Cain that his brother's blood cried out from the ground.  How much innocent blood does this earth bear?  No wonder it groans!  Those are like labor pains, and brother, they're no fun.  But they serve to signal to us that something wonderful is coming.  Every labor pain I felt during childbirth, signaled that I would soon hold my child in my arms.  One day, God will create a new earth, perfect once again, and those of us who have accepted His gift of forgiveness through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, will finally be able enjoy it as God intended. Not only that, but we have the promise of Heaven itself and being forever with the One who loved us so completely that He took our shame and punishment, so we could share His glory and peace.

 

     It's a universal truth that choices have consequences, both good and bad.  If you choose to ignore your alarm, you'll be late for work.  If you choose to exercise, it will improve your health. Because man sins, the consequence is death and separation from God forever.  It's the only just consequence there is.  Have you ever thought about the fact that if God allowed even one sin into Heaven, it would no longer be heavenly?  It would no longer be perfect because there would be that one spot.  The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death.”  Wages are something we all understand.  They’re the payment for work we've performed.  If you have a job, your wages come in the form of a paycheck or, in this day and age, a direct deposit.  It is something you've earned, like earning points in a game when we score a goal or make a basket.  The same is true with our sin.  Because we've sinned, or chosen to disobey God’s standard, we have earned eternal separation from God in Hell when we die.  But God refused to give up on His creation.  He created us to have fellowship with Him, but our choice of sin makes that impossible.  God in love, stepped into humanity and took our payment.  He took the paycheck marked “Death and Hell” and gave us a gift instead.  It's done, once-and-for-all and for every single human being throughout all time.  Gifts are great, right?  We don’t have to do anything to earn them.  But once again, God's gift of choice allows us to accept the payment Christ made for us or to reject it and pay it ourselves.  When God created Hell, He intended it for Satan and his demons, but because some men choose to reject God's forgiveness, He is forced to make them pay the penalty of their sins themselves.  That is not what He wants.   In fact, when some men criticized the fact that God had not already returned to set up the new heaven and earth, God said that He never goes back on His word. He will come again, and man will be judged.  The reason He says that He has prolonged His return...His love for man. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  He’s saying, “Oh, I haven’t forgotten what I’ve said I’m going to do.  I’m just giving you one more chance to choose Me before it is eternally too late.”

      I pray you have chosen to accept God’s gift of forgiveness.  If so, then you are “going home” with all those through the ages who have accepted it as well.  If you have never made that choice, please consider what I’ve said.  Your eternal destination depends upon the choice you make.  As much as God wants you to choose eternity in Heaven with Him and as much as He has given to make that possible, He ultimately leaves the choice up to you.

 

     I know this hasn’t been your typical “first post.”  To be honest, I struggled for a couple months about how to start this blog.  I had tons of ideas about different posts I could do.  I had the format all set up and ready to go.  I even started a couple posts, just to delete them and close up my laptop.  I was well aware that first impressions are crucial, and something about the first post intimidated me.  After multiple middle-of-the-night planning sessions with myself...in bed...when I couldn’t get back to sleep, I finally decided, sink or swim, that I was going to begin with the most important thing I could possibly share.  I figured, if you never read another thing I write, this is the one thing I would want to tell you.  I want you, no matter who you are, to join those of us “goin’ home.”