There was a young man who constantly quarreled with his father. Finally, he left home without saying goodbye. He continued to keep in touch with his mom but cut connections with his dad.
After a few years, he wanted to come home for Christmas very badly. But he was afraid his dad would not allow it. His mom wrote to him and urged him to come home. Inside, he felt he couldn’t do that until he knew his father had forgiven him. They wrote back and forth a few times about it.
Finally, there wasn’t time for any more letters. His mother wrote and said she would talk to his dad. If he had forgiven him, she would tie a white rag on the tree right next to the railroad tracks in their back yard. He would be able to see the tree before the train reached the station. If there were no rag, he would go on and not stop.
The young man started for home. As the train got close to his home, he became so nervous he couldn’t look out the window. So he said to his friend who was sitting next to him, “I can't bear to look. Would you sit in my place and look out the window for that big tree in my back yard next to the tracks. Tell me if there is a rag on it or not.”
So his friend traded places with him and looked out the window. After a while the friend said, “Oh, I see the tree.”
The son asked, “Is there a white rag tied to it?”
For a moment, his friend didn’t say anything. Then he turned, and in a soft voice said, “There is a white rag tied to every limb of the tree.”
Jesus came to live here on earth, and he made his home, his dwelling, among us. “Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” John 14:23. Jesus said that he comes to live with those that are His followers! God, Father & Son, with come and make their home with each of us that call on the name of the Lord and are His! The God of heaven, the creator of the universe desires to make His home with every person that believes in Him. He is a personal God- He desires a relationship with each of us and just like our family- it begins in our homes- in our hearts! Jesus said that he came to make a home with us! Making a home is far more than the wood, cement, and paint- it’s the people inside. It’s the people we do life with, fight with, love on, and celebrate and cry with! Making a home is far more than brick and mortar. It’s learning to love unconditionally. Learning to put others ahead of ourselves, learning to go the extra mile within the relationship to make things work! That’s family, that’s home.
Home is where you feel comfortable, it should be where you feel safe to be yourself. Home is the place where you are real and where you are content. Home brings up many pictures of family, fun and good food. Often home is where we return to for holidays. Going home can feel safe- or for some coming home will stir up other memories best left buried.
All of our homes come with challenges and problems, which come from the sin in this world. Many homes have become battle grounds, places of fear and insecurity instead of havens for our troubled spirits. Other homes struggle to get bread on the table, or utilities working. Still others lack love and nurturing that every person needs. But that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. As sin entered the world through Adam- so the world entered the ‘homes’ of humankind.
Jesus came to bring us that hope. He came to be with us and live in us so that we would be ready for our permanent home in heaven with him someday. He came to give us hope for today and forever. The author of Hebrews 11:1, wrote, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Sadly, many are without the hope of Jesus today. And they turn to other people and things to give them some hope for the future.
The Christian faith is not a hope-so hope, but a know-so hope. It’s not like the hope of the world which disappoints but rather it’s a hope anchored in God and in the Word of God and in the God who can do all things. The hope we can have only comes through faith.
Hope is about expectation. You don't look forward to things you already possess. Hope requires that we look forward to something and move toward that thing with the assurance that we will eventually acquire it. For believers in Christ, we can give thanks to the Spirit within us, because we are able to put our hope in God and wait patiently to be united with Him. One day everything will be put to right- one day all things will be made new. Until that day we live in hopeful expectation.
We all need a place to call home. We all need a place to feel love and feel cared for. Jesus came to live with us, to give us hope, to love us and to care for us. He left the comforts of heaven to be born as an infant to a poor Jewish couple and He would be born in a manger in Bethlehem- He came to make his home in our hearts- to be our God so that we would be His people.
This past year may be leaving you feeling broken or isolated. This year may have left you grieving or fearful or hurt. It’s ok if to feel sad. You don't have to feel like a downer amid celebration. You can sit at the feet of a Savior who came for you where you are right now. That's how Immanuel works. It's God with us in the dirt giving us hope in the face of despair. "Those who walk in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in spaces of deepest darkness a light has dawned." - Isaiah 9:2
Jesus Christ is our hope for today- and for all our tomorrows. He came to bring hope to our hearts- to our homes and to the darkest pits of our life. He’s got tomorrow in His hands- Go to Him- trust Him- Find Hope.
