All of us need to hang on to a group of friends who will inspire, encourage and challenge us to greater accomplishments for God's kingdom causes. That's why we all desperately need to be part of a local body of believers where God's Word is taught and His Son is worshipped. Today's churches can trace their heritage back to the ancient body of Christ and heroes of the faith as seen through the eyes of the writer of the Hebrews.
As children of God, we are prised, chosen by Him to reign at His side. Yet, beautiful and beloved as we are, we go right on living in drudgery as citizens of a second-class country, forfeiting heavenly treasures by clinging to earthly ones.
At death, a Christian doesn't leave home. We go home.
We are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. - 2 Corinthians 5:8Consider the paradox - our true home is a place we've never been!
C. S. Lewis captured this idea perfectly with one of his memorable metaphors. Let me quote from his book The Problem of Pain:
“The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”
30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge
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