One way or another, everyone is searching for, looking for something. We may call that "something"by many different names; success, security, happiness, fulfillment, meaning. But ultimately, and as Jones says, whether we know it or not, the One we truly seek is the Father, and the path to Him, as shown in Acts 5, is Christ, and Christ alone.
As someone has put it, our hearts are restless until they find their home in Christ. God spoke in the Old Testament to His people Israel and said in effect, "Throughout eternity, I have been your Home." Whether we want to confess to it, admit it or not, we are born into this world homeless. We may live in the finest mansion, and have a life filled with things, but without Christ, we are living under a bridge in a cardboard box. He created us for Himself, but when sin entered the world through Adam, a separation took place between He and the human race He created. We lost our home. Christ was given to us, to die for us, in order that we might regain that home. We are born with an intense desire to find that home on our own, but all our efforts fall short. Sin is the blockage. As Jones put it, all other so called "paths to God" involve ones climbing a ladder to Him, and finally, through our own efforts, we might reach that top rung of the ladder, and so reach Him. We've passed all His tests and obstacles, and now we're entitled to know Him. It's a lie. Jones says, and says it truly, that it is only through Christ, who meets us not at the top rung, but the bottom, that we may know Him, and find our home in Him. Our own efforts will never get us to the top of the ladder, though countless lives spend all their energy trying to do so. And if it is not a literal god they pursue, it is one that shows himself through their striving for achievement, happiness, possessions, positions, and recognition. None of which can ever be "home" to souls that were created to know home only in Him. The great tragedy is that all the while, just as Jones wrote, our hearts remain homesick and heartsick for Him....while we remain oblivious to that truth.
What home might you, we, be searching for today? We may not call that home "Messiah," but we see it as our "savior" nonetheless. We might call it our deliverer, our answer, our hope, or other names too numerous to list. The reality is that none of them are or can be our home. And so long as we pursue them, our hearts will remain homesick and heartsick. Yet all the while, He calls to us, standing at the bottom rung of the ladder, inviting us home. Do we hear His call? Do we come to Him? Are we ready now to come home?
Blessings,
Pastor O
As someone has put it, our hearts are restless until they find their home in Christ. God spoke in the Old Testament to His people Israel and said in effect, "Throughout eternity, I have been your Home." Whether we want to confess to it, admit it or not, we are born into this world homeless. We may live in the finest mansion, and have a life filled with things, but without Christ, we are living under a bridge in a cardboard box. He created us for Himself, but when sin entered the world through Adam, a separation took place between He and the human race He created. We lost our home. Christ was given to us, to die for us, in order that we might regain that home. We are born with an intense desire to find that home on our own, but all our efforts fall short. Sin is the blockage. As Jones put it, all other so called "paths to God" involve ones climbing a ladder to Him, and finally, through our own efforts, we might reach that top rung of the ladder, and so reach Him. We've passed all His tests and obstacles, and now we're entitled to know Him. It's a lie. Jones says, and says it truly, that it is only through Christ, who meets us not at the top rung, but the bottom, that we may know Him, and find our home in Him. Our own efforts will never get us to the top of the ladder, though countless lives spend all their energy trying to do so. And if it is not a literal god they pursue, it is one that shows himself through their striving for achievement, happiness, possessions, positions, and recognition. None of which can ever be "home" to souls that were created to know home only in Him. The great tragedy is that all the while, just as Jones wrote, our hearts remain homesick and heartsick for Him....while we remain oblivious to that truth.
What home might you, we, be searching for today? We may not call that home "Messiah," but we see it as our "savior" nonetheless. We might call it our deliverer, our answer, our hope, or other names too numerous to list. The reality is that none of them are or can be our home. And so long as we pursue them, our hearts will remain homesick and heartsick. Yet all the while, He calls to us, standing at the bottom rung of the ladder, inviting us home. Do we hear His call? Do we come to Him? Are we ready now to come home?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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