Saved

April 29, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Following Jesus

 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

 

Every once in a while I feel as though I just don’t have what it is going to take to live fifty more years on this planet.  Ever feel that way?  Discouraged, defeated….just plain old tired? 

Recently, I caught up with an old friend and she shared that her mom had been saved.  My dad is saved, too!  I shared back.

Saved from what?  The question popped into my head as if from a cynical listener.  From hell, I thought firstly.  From eternal absence of God.  Because I am a list maker, I began to make a list.  Saved from…

Deceit

Sorrow

Anger

Lust

Pride

Envy

Persecution

Violence

Hatred

Hunger

Injustice

Favoritism

 

To name a few.  No, the Bible doesn’t say that we will not struggle with these troubles while we live here on Earth. The way people treat one another here pains me so that I long for heaven, when all these battling feelings of our sinful flesh will be gone.  I have a hard time explaining that to my head, but I know without a doubt that it is true.  Heaven is without sin, without sorrow.  Best of all, it is with Jesus. 

Let me tell you, these last few days I have been longing for Jesus!   I know He is here, everywhere.  I can pray my heart out and virtually crawl into his lap for a good cry.  I believe He sees the true reason for my sadness, and He loves that my heart is still soft in a hard world.

But what I long for is more, something I cannot even comprehend.  My five year old, Soleil often says, “I know what Jesus is doing right now.”

“What?”

“He’s preparing a place for us.”  

“That’s right!”

Yes, I long for heaven.  No, I do not have a death wish.  I pray daily to be able to live a long life with my family.  I’m a mom! 

But there are some times when as much as I know Jesus is here, I want more.  On days like this, I understand more fully what it is I am saved from.  I stop to praise God that I am saved from ever being separated from Him.   And then, without fail, come the gentle reminders of the glimpses of heaven I’ve already had. 

The absolute peace I feel when my husband holds me.

The joy and spontaneous laughter that comes from watching my daughters dance with total abandon.

The love that overflows in my heart when one of my girls puts aside her desires to bless someone else.

Even the awe of God I experience when I bite into a fresh piece of fruit.  The sweetness, the color, the texture.  All so pleasing.  From the ground.  Amazing!

Yes, there are many glimpses of heaven in this depraved world. What I am longing for, God has plopped right into my life.  And the promise of an eternity with Jesus and without all the yucky stuff…that helps too.

 

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By No Other Name

April 9, 2009 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Following Jesus

When I am talking to a friend, it is nearly impossible to go an entire conversation and not have the names of Eric, Coco, or Soleil come up.  Whether I am relating the latest cute thing one of my girls said or talking about something we’ve done recently, most my conversations revolve around them.

This makes perfect sense.  Who I am, after all, is all wrapped up in the people I share a life with.  I can’t go a few minutes without thinking of them, let alone speaking to or about them.    

A few years ago, I was doing a Bible study and it was talking about the power in the name of Jesus.  I realized as I read it that I was not in the habit of saying Jesus very often.  Other than in the ‘in Jesus’ name I pray’ way.

This realization made me sad.  Sure, I would tell of God’s wonderful works in my life, but to actually say the name of Jesus was rare.  I don’t know why this was, it just was.

I heard Greg Laurie say one time that you can say the name of any religious figure and get almost no response, but when you say Jesus, people react.  While I don’t want to toss around His name just because, I also didn’t want to go day by day and not acknowledge Him, either.

I made a concentrated effort back then to talk more about Jesus.  To get in the habit of daily saying His name was not easy.  I was (and still am) just used to saying, “God has done this for me,” or “God is so good.”  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I didn’t question my feelings back then; I just tried to say Jesus more often.  I felt I should, so I did.  Then, a couple weeks ago at church, our pastor taught on Acts 4.  This verse jumped out at me:

          Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is
   ” ‘the stone you builders rejected,
      which has become the capstone.  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:10-12

By no other name will we be saved! It is good and necessary to proclaim the works of God, my father.   But it is by the name of Jesus that we are saved.  And so that name should be often on my lips!

With Good Friday and Easter upon us, we naturally think, hear, and speak more about Jesus.  I for one want to let the work of the cross and the joy of the resurrection spill over into the rest of the year. 

Say it with me today…Jesus!

 

 

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