Leaving home and longing for our real home

I love being a Dad. I have thoroughly enjoyed fatherhood up to this moment in my life. However, I have been struggling a lot lately with how quickly kids grow up and how time seems to go by at such a rapid pace. But the fact is time does not "fly" by it is constant. It only appears to fly by. This has hit close to home lately with the age of my children. It feels like I blinked my eyes and they went from being kids to teenagers. From car seats to driving. From blankys to bras. From little league to High School. Gradually, yet ultimately, they are going from dependence to independence.

I am a very sentimental person, therefore I am the type of person who is always trying to wring everything I can out of the past and present in order to feel some sense of control over time. You hear it said all your life: "Time goes by fast..." "Where did the time go?" But the truth is time has been marching on at a steady pace all along we just fail to realize it.

I am trying to learn to stop fighting time. Trying to fight time is like trying to catch the wind, it is impossible. I am learning to accept that fact and live in the present and enjoy each day as a gift rather than ruminating over things I really have no control over.

At church we have been teaching a series on parenting. http://novationchurch.org/media/
Last Sunday we talked about how God's priority in parenting is to gradually shift a child's dependence from their parents to God. Kids from the time they are born are longing to leave home and start a home of their own. What I am learning is it doesn't stop there. Raising kids is a temporary assignment. Sure I understand that being a parent is a life long relationship, but those years of gradually shifting kids dependence off of us to God are the years that seem to go by the quickest. Thus the sentimental feelings and longings for the days when they are little, cute, and dependent on us are what can bring pain and regret.

Why does this stir in us feelings of sentimentalism or anxiety or even regret? Because as great and rewarding as parenting is it is not the end. Watching our kids strive to leave home and make homes of their own is a huge reminder that we are all longing for our real home in eternity with God. The "empty nest" can really make some feel empty if they do not understand what we are all truly longing for.

I love how C.S. Lewis puts it: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." 

As great as marriage can be, as great as parenting is, as great as many things this life has to offer can be, none of them ultimately satisfy our deepest longings. Our deepest longings will not be satisfied until we cross over to the other side. The longings for yesterday or for our kids to be young again or for whatever you want to fill in the blank are all reminders that this is not heaven. We are not there yet.

Pray with me: Father, we recognize today the brevity of life. We recognize that we have so few days to live. Help us to live in such a way that we bring you glory by loving You with all we have and by loving others with all we have. Help us to recognize that the longings of our hearts are really pointing us to You. It is in you and you alone that our hearts find rest and peace. Thank you for the good gifts of life, but help us to remember that they are temporary. Help us to remember that we were created for eternity with You where our real home is and our hearts truly belong. Amen  

A famine in the land

I was humbled this morning when I stumbled across this video on YOUTUBE of Chinese believers seeing and holding a Bible for the first time.

Click here to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LcEDPRfHMY

As an American believer watching these people treasure God's word made me realize how much I take for granted. I'll be honest and transparent, some days I do not even pick up the Bible. Somedays I feel indifferent to Scripture. Somedays I approach reading Scripture as a chore rather than a delight. I guess it is because I easily can take Jesus for granted. I can view my relationship with Him through the lenses of legalism or some other warped indifferent view of Him.

But that is not how Christ wants me to think or approach His word. He desires that we crave and feed on His word for living real life and the full life He intends for us.

As I thought about these Chinese believers I put myself in their shoes for a moment and thought of the false ideas they have been taught all their lives about who they are. Its not easy to be a Christian in China. I thought about the feeling that their lives had had no meaning or purpose until they had met the Author of Scripture! They learned about the Author and obviously had His words spoken to them before they had ever even got to read His book! Why did they treasure His words so? Because they knew the Author and could not wait to get to know Him better!

There are many verses of Scripture on treasuring God's word. Psalm 119 is solely devoted to understanding the role of God's word in our lives. We are told in Colossians 3:16:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

Jesus said: "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father." John 15:7-8

In other words, to be His disciple and to produce a life that brings God glory, I need to treasure and feast on His word the way I do food on a daily basis (and I do that well).

One of my favorite verses on our need of Scripture is found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
"Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us."

God's word is the source of salvation because it leads me to Jesus. When I come to Jesus His words teach me how do life according to His design.

The Chinese have had a famine for the word of God. The prophet Amos gives a sobering warning about taking God's words for granted:

"Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!' These are the words of my Master God. “I’ll send a famine through the whole country. It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word." Amos 8:11

My prayer for us is that we would be hungry and thirsty for God's word the way these Chinese believers were when they received their first Bible.