Homeward Bound

 Sixties folk duo Simon and Garfunkel had a very popular song entitled Homeward Bound. That song speaks to me today as I, and every soul that has been saved by grace, have as our living hope that we are homeward bound through our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. Always, we are to be looking homeward, living here in the knowledge that we're just passing through. This is not our home. We're on the way to the better country Paul wrote of, and Christ promises to get us there, to take us home. But the journey will not be easy. All along the way, the enemy of our souls will seek to force us off the "road," through discouragement, temptations, afflictions, and need. Our call is to stay the course, by the power of His grace. 

The world can be and is a very frightening place, fraught with great danger and challenges, and totally unpredictable. The only predictable element is that there will be trouble...sometimes a great deal of it. Jesus said it would be so. Hope will be in short supply if it is a hope built on ourselves, but never for those whose hope is a living one centered on Him. Matthew 12:20-21, speaking of Christ reads, "He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope.....And His name will be the hope of the world." He will not crush the smallest hope, but the world makes no such promise. It specializes in stealing our hopes and dreams. The god of this world, Satan, is a thief. Stealing hope is what he does. Where is Jesus when this happens? Can He remain my hope and yours when all our dreams and hopes lie shattered at our feet? Dreams and hopes for ourselves, our marriages, children, our professions and ministries? If He's the hope of the world, where is He in mine and in yours?

The answer, if we'll dare to believe, is that He's right there with us. In the midst of the brokenness He wants us to understand that while one dream may be crushed and our hopes dashed, He has a new dream for us, a better one. One that the old dream and hope had to die to so that we might lay hold of it. Hope for the rest of the journey. Hope that will go the distance.

Mark Buchanan says, "There is only one road home and to get there, you'll have to stay the course.....Do we believe that though the entire route teems with danger and death, this is still the only road home? If so, stay the course." Jesus never promised that our every dream would be fulfilled and every hope realized. What He did promise was His best life here and in the world to come. He wants us to see that out of the ashes of our lesser dreams and hopes He gives us a greater One that is fulfilled in Him. All that we have desired on this side of eternity completely diminishes in the reality of what He has prepared for those that are His. For those He has led home. 

You may be standing in the midst of shattered dreams and broken hopes....but He is there, and as He wipes away the tears, He holds a better dream for you and yours. Embrace the dream, His dream for you. The dream of the homeward bound.

Blessings,
Pastor O