AUG. 9, 2013
Belonging
Read: John
14:1-11
In my Father’s house are many mansions . . . . I go to prepare a place
for
you. —John
14:2
My
dad was full of stories about his hometown. So you can imagine how excited
I
was as a child when he took our family there every summer. We fished the
St.
Joseph River together and visited his boyhood farm where all of his stories
came to life. Although that place was never really my home, whenever I visit
that town—now with
grown children and grandchildren of my own—it fills me
with a nostalgic sense
of belonging.
Jesus
talked with His disciples about His home in heaven, which He left to
come and
live among us. What a joy it must have been for Him to tell His
disciples, “In
my Father’s house are many mansions . . . . I go to prepare a
place for you, .
. . that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).
No doubt Jesus, “who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross”
(Heb. 12:2), was looking
forward to returning to His heavenly home and taking
His Father’s sons and
daughters there to be with Him.
The
thought of Jesus taking us to His Father’s home fills us with great
anticipation
and compels us to tell others the good news about the Son who came
to rescue us
from this fallen place.
Now I belong to Jesus;
Jesus belongs to me—
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity. —Clayton
Only Jesus can fill us with a sense of belonging like we’ve
never
known before.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
