Good Monday morning! Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day! Whew, bit of a mouthful there, too many syllables for a good holiday, mate! We should change this to Martin's Day, or maybe Marty's Day; something with a simple ring to it. Think about it: Easter, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, all simple and short in the syllable department. Independence Day must have too many syllables because everyone asks how your "fourth" was or "What are you doing for the Fourth?" What happened to one through three? Don't I get to celebrate the "First" first? I suppose we took care of that on January 1st. How 'bout seconds then, do we get to celebrate Seconds? One look down at my belly and I get the nagging suspicion that maybe I've celebrated seconds a little too much already. Nobody celebrates thirds of course, that would be just too greedy. We just need to shorten up the name of this particular holiday. King's Day wouldn't work because in America we rather like to have our royalty at a distance. A royal wedding in England is okay, but don't get any on us please! We prefer to bow and scrape before celebrities behaving badly or CEO's behaving criminally. Okay, enough of the social commentary for the day.
As you began your day in prayer... you did begin your day in prayer, didn't you? As we begin the day, did you need to pray one of the more difficult prayers in Christendom: thank you Lord for taking someone home yesterday? Thanking the Lord for taking someone home seems to be one of the more difficult prayers we will face. Any of us might worry that a relative of the one called home might take that prayer wrong. "Does he think I'm thanking God that his relative is gone?" Thanking God that 'ol George is finally gone is a different thing entirely, especially for 'ol George. The prayer I write of this morning is one of genuine gratitude for the Lord bringing our loved ones home to himself in Heaven. And on that subject, my thought for the day:
Heaven Improves with Each New Arrival!
First of all, isn't Heaven already perfect with God the Father sitting on his throne with His Son, Jesus, beside him? Not quite, although I'm not a qualified judge of the matter. Something is missing from Heaven, or perhaps I should say, someone is missing from Heaven. You and me are not there yet! Throughout the Bible, God's Holy Word, I get the impression that God would very much like to have all of us in Heaven with Him. Of course, none of us can just walk up there, and God will not allow the stain of sin to enter that most wonderful of realms. If ever a group was more welcome and not welcome in a place, I don't know what it is. Imagine an abandoned and starving little puppy or kitty on the side of a dusty road. You so want to heal and help this little creature, your heart breaks with compassion for it, but this little thing stinks. I don't mean the stink of neglect, but the stink of having been sprayed full-bore by a skunk, then taken by that same mean old skunk and rolled around on a flock of stink beetles for a few days, and then just for good measure, the skunk hoses that poor thing down one last time. You would stop to wonder how in the world you could get this thing cleaned up so that you can start the healing process in your home.
God has the same problem. Revelation speaks of trees that bear fruit to heal the nations. God has the method and His home all prepared for us, but we stink of sin. God came up with a solution for that: He sent his own Son down to us. Hebrews 1:3 states: "After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin..." The death of Jesus on the cross cleansed those who will believe in Him from that stank stink of sin that prevented us from being welcomed into Heaven. A few traces of that foul scent linger, thus you and I cannot go home just yet, but our welcome is now guaranteed! God will not bring any of us home until He has removed every trace of the stink of sin and covered us in the beautiful scent of His Son. Now imagine that same little puppy or kitten with all traces of the skunk gone and now smelling like a sweet flower. Your home would be improved with the arrival of this little treasure! So it is with God's home in Heaven. As each new arrival is greeted by the throngs of saints and angels, God's home improves just a little bit. When every last believer in Christ is brought home, Heaven will be complete.
Have a wonderful holiday, and look forward to arriving in Heaven!
Bucky
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