This World is Not My Home

If I could call up my past on the telephone, perhaps I would say, "Why didn't you tell me? My life was halfway through before I heard the truth? But why? Or are these kinds of thoughts even worthy of consideration? Is the past even there anymore? Is it not obvious that it exists only in memories? So, what are we to do with thoughts about the past? It depends upon what kind of thoughts they are, I suppose. The young have no concept of the brevity of life, or of its uncertainty.The truth is no one knows what tomorrow holds, no one knows when they will take their last breath, no one knows, except the God that many believe in but most do not. So now, having been changed, having been enlightened, having been regenerated, converted, saved, born again, I am here until I am not, so while I am here, what is my task? "This world is not my home," the old song says. "I'm just passing through, "My treasures are laid up Somewhere beyond the blue The angels beckon me From heaven's open door And I can't feel at home In this world anymore." It happens more and more, the realization that I don't belong here, and yet while I'm here, there is a Book with instructions on how to live here and how to get safely to where the life is. I am just concerned for things that are coming in the lives of those who have yet to believe because it seems to usually require a crisis of some kind before people look to God for answers. At the same time, I remember how events piled up on me and constrained me, and starting pulling me to God by way of his power. That's the only way to describe it. I can pray for you, and I know God will hear my prayer, and he will act. I don't know exactly how he will work in your life, but how you respond to it will be your choice. All I know is that while God instructs us to seek him, at the same time, he is the one doing the pursuing. I am thankful for the many ways God drew me to himself, and I'm glad I finally entered into the place of safety for eternity, but I also am aware that many, many people have yet to feel inclined to go to God. People like to say "the other side," or some such similar refrain, "Rest in Peace," when someone passes away. They seem to think everyone goes to the same place when they die, and it will just be a place of rest from our troubles down below. I used to believe that, and sometimes I wish it were true, but it's not. The Apostle Paul said he was a "debtor" to describe his earthly mission. "I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and unwise. So much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also" (Romans 1:14-15). The world is getting stranger and stranger each passing day, and yet the timeless words of the Scriptures speak so clearly to give peace in troubled times. But they won't make sense to anyone who has decided not to believe what's in them. People today who are upset with the current president, for example, are moving to another country. The thing is if a person is running from God, there will be nowhere to escape to. And the same is true of someone who is bound for hell. I know it's not popular to talk about that, but Jesus talked about it a lot. I am glad that somehow God just got me started reading the Bible, Genesis, I believe, and it just had a magnetic pull on me, and I started to seek the Lord. I hope God will do the same for the people I am praying for. He has his ways of doing that, because since he is God, he knows how to deal with individuals. As children, we didn't have to be brow-beaten to believe in God. What happened? How did we get so hard in our hearts? The only answer to that, I believe, is the effects of sin. You see those hideous videos on social media of drug addicts and their wasted lives, and you know they were once a little baby, a little child. How did this happen? I see children start out as kindergartners and gradually become more and more disrespectful or angry or whatever the case may be, so I have seen it with my own eyes, just in the little place where I reside and work, but think of it. Everywhere you look there are people in need of the knowledge of God, and if you know him, you are indebted to them. I had an exchange on social media once where someone said, "I believe in Jesus but I don't talk about him, because it makes some people mad." I wonder how many others feel that way too. Well, Paul said, he was "not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith'" (Romans 1:16-17). So, I leave you with that. I have many people on my heart tonight and perhaps you do as well. "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4).