Imagine This: The Empty Seat

Many years ago, I learned a lot of valuable lessons, understanding Biblical principles from the Parables Yeshua spoke to His audiences.  Ancient principles conveyed in stories of (then) current life situations.  I was moved to create short stories from the pictures the Lord painted in my mind like the parables He spoke back in the day.   

I will be sharing some of these word pictures from out of my "Imagine This" file.  I pray they speak to you as they have spoken to me.  

IMAGINE THIS: The Empty Seat

You come from a big family…..

Almost too many to count…..

You feel like you are just one among so many.

You Father has a big heart…..

But with so many siblings…..

You wonder if He could possible care about you.

You lost contact with Him…..

So long ago…..

It seems that your thoughts of Him…..

Are no more than a figment of your imagination.

Year after year you have been getting…..

Something that sounds…..

Like a family invitation to come home.

But even that seems vague…..

And you doubt that it’s real.

You have gone to the websites…..

That track family histories……

Wondering if your family is even there.

Then, one day, comes a knock at your door…..

A friendly face appears…..

There is something familiar…..

About the one standing there…..

A family resemblance, perhaps.

You listen to the words of greeting…..

There is excitement about having found you.

Something about a family reunion…..

And where you belong.

You agree to go with this “excitable” friend.

Just to see for yourself…..

If what was spoken is really the truth.

You arrive at the place of family celebration.

You enter the banquet hall and feel the unity.

Then your eyes meet…..

With the One you now know is your Father.

The tears fall…..

The ache in your heart is no longer there.

From the doorway you see…..

The seat that is yours.

The one that has been empty for so long.

You now know that the message is true……

You notice the look on your Father’s face.

There is love and joy…..

But something else that seems like relief.

These family gatherings…..

Have been going on…..

For a long, long time.

You look around…..

At all your brothers and sisters seated there…..

It finally dawns on you…..

In all these years of celebration…..

Your seat has remained empty.

With each passing year…..

Your Father’s heart grieved…..

Over you……

The one missing at His table.

Little did you know…..

How important you are…..

And have always been…..

To your Father and the family.

Your empty seat says it all…..

No matter how big the family may get…..

The look in your Father’s eye tells you…..

No one else can fill your place…..

In His heart or at His table…..

Can you imagine that?

If this touches your heart.  Maybe it's time to "come home"!

The Holy Spirit is Calling.  Can you hear Him?   

"Doubting" Thomas: His Story, Our Story

The Holy One calls to me this morning.   On Sunday we came together as a faith community to share in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.  The reminder of His sacrifice and the Glorious Resurrection He modeled as a preview of our own.  As we sit in personal assessment of what human sin cost Him, and confess what represents sin in our lives, we lean into the forgiveness offered by His death on the cross.  My mind tracks back to that historic time after His death and resurrection, when He appeared to many in His glorified form. 

I was reminded by the Holy One that Jesus hung around in His glorified body for "forty days" and was seen by many to give evidence of His resurrection to the Disciples who knew Him.

Acts 1:3, "After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave them convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke of the Kingdom of God".

While the personal stories may vary, each one of us has (or needs to have) one that relates to the first time we really "see" the Lord for Who He is.  Today, the Holy One takes me to the disciple named Thomas and his interesting story of that day in his life.  The day he "saw" the Resurrected Christ.

John conveys the account in His Gospel record, and how the disciple came to have the nick name of "doubting Thomas" in John 20:24-29.  We can join in with the crowd that has looked down on Thomas until we admit that all of us have had our doubts about God.

In reading the Biblical account of the resurrection, others told Thomas that they had "seen" the Lord.  They told him of their personal encounter and testimony, but Thomas wasn't buying it.  In fact, he told everyone that, despite knowing Jesus the man, and having heard His words about His death and resurrection, he would not believe in Jesus as God unless and until he put his hands in the nail holes of His crucified body.

What Thomas was desperately needing was a personal encounter with the living and resurrected Messiah.  I think that sometimes the real importance of this story gets lost in the judgment of Thomas' doubt.

For me, the really awesome point of this account is that Jesus met him in his doubt.  I believe the Lord's response and why it was recorded was so that we could read about Thomas' wrestle. In the deepest places of our heart's desire to truly know the Lord, we simply are not satisfied with someone else's testimony.

The Holy Spirit speaks encouragement to my heart today, "Keep praying for manifestations of my Presence for I will surely appear".  Could it be that the Lord wants to use our doubts to open the door to a more personal encounter with Himself?

Scripture says in John 20:24, "now Thomas, (called Didymus) one of the 12 was not with the other disciples when Jesus came, so the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord".

I cannot even begin to imagine the sorrow in Thomas' heart that he missed the most amazing moment in history.  Jesus made an appearance post death and Thomas was not there to witness it.   He was not present with "the others".  Was it extreme self-disappointment and faux pride that said, 'unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my hand into his side, I will not believe"?

I would be saying "poor Thomas" if I haven't been in that place myself, listening to someone else's testimony without my own. 

But what happens next in this epic story is nothing short of a personal love relationship forged forever in the furnace of desire.   Thomas has a personal criterion in order for him to believe in the resurrected Savior.  Thomas declared it, God heard it and Jesus met it.

"A week later His disciples were in the house again and through the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you".  Then He said to Thomas, "put your fingers here: see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into, my side.  Stop doubting and believe."  Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed".

Personal relationships involve personal encounters.  Should we expect anything less in our personal relationship with our Savior and Lord?  The wonder of Thomas' story is that Jesus met him where he was in his doubt.  And that is our hope and assurance: that Jesus will do the same for us.

The world turns, life spins out of our control, doubts arise and failures in faith happen, but through it all we can be assured that Jesus IS here and ready to provide the convincing proofs of His resurrection life, not if, but when we need them. 

Sanctification is a process.  Faithfulness is a fruit and the evidence of the Holy Spirit of Jesus within each one of us.  It is a quality of a life that bares His fruit.  I am having to re-think my judgement of Thomas and his stated criteria for belief. 

For Thomas who knew the "man" Jesus, to see the body that was pieced was not a "fleece" but a foundation.  In that moment when his hand touched the place of those mortal wounds, Thomas moved beyond any and all doubt that Jesus is God.

What is the equivalent of Thomas' criteria in our lives today?  What would it take for us to move beyond all doubt that Jesus is Who He said He is and Trust Him as our Savior and Lord?  If Jesus was willing to appear and show Thomas what he needed to see, He will do the same for all who truly want to believe.

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him? 

Living in the Light of Eternity

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Temporal life is about to change and with it the need to adapt is pressing down.  Temporal life as we know it never ends well.  As hard as we try to avoid it: from dust we came and to dust we will return.  Gen 3:19

Physical death is the end of temporal life no matter how we live it.  It has been that way since the very beginning with two exceptions that we are told about in the Word of God: Enoch and Elijah. These men were the two exceptions, and their lives are the model for those of us who believe in a rapture (sudden taking up) of the Body of Christ when the Lord returns for His own.  Scripture tells us:  

 1 Thessalonians 4:

"16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words." NIV

Not knowing the day or time of that epic event on our earth calendar, we will be wise to live out each day as if it could be today.  Both of these men lived in Old Testament times but since our God is a precedent setting and honoring Sovereign, we can be sure that their lives and translation out of this reality has significance to us today. 

If nothing else the thought of a sudden evacuation out of planet earth should have an impact on how we live our temporal lives in light of eternity.  For me this means to see the events here with eyes on the long range of Heavenly purpose.

Paul exhorts us over and over to get our temporal lives in a bag so we can focus on the much more of the Kingdom of Heaven and God's purpose in what He allows to transform us. 

2 Corinth 4:16-17, "Therefore we do not lose heart though we are outwardly wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So, we fix our eyes not on what his seen but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal."

Make no mistake the Lord is preparing us for life post this earth.  His word tells us that He is not content that ANY should perish but that all might come to the saving knowledge of Jesus; that Jesus was sent to rescue us and return us to a personal relationship with our Creator.  That potential was accomplished when He paid the price for a sin nature that all humanity is born with, was crucified in flesh, and resurrected as a model of our own future resurrection from the dead.  Only, that is, IF we accept His death in place of our own.      

There is a way to live out our days here in light of eternity and I, for one, want to live that way.  Since everything that makes up this realm materially will be turned into ash one day, the focus then must be on the only thing that will survive the burn and that is our relationships, beginning with our most important one which is with HIM!  Once that is firmly established, we look to those we know and love to share such Great News of God's Love, Jesus' Sacrifice and the gift of eternal life that we have been given. 

We will not enter into eternity with things, but we will enter in with people.  All those who share in a love relationship with our Savior God, will be gathered together and inhabit a New Heaven and a New Earth.  These are just the cliff notes and an overview, but the complete story is EPIC, and we are a vital part of God's plan.    

Believers in Jesus are advancing our Kingdom one day at a time, seeing our Kingdom enlarged one life at a time! We have our marching orders called the Great Commission and we are to share what Jesus has done for us and what He is willing to do for all who call upon His Name.  

Is today THAT day when you meet Him?  Are you that "one life" He has left the 99 to save?  I pray so! 

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you Hear Him?