Friends

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34,34

I keep coming back to this verse, and each time for a different reason. The Bible is like that. Full of wisdom upon wisdom, some we catch right away, some lie waiting to be discovered like this time. What did Jesus mean by ‘love one another’? And who was He talking about?

Some of us don’t make friends easily. I don’t mean the surface ‘hello how are you, I’m fine’ kind of friends. I mean the kind that you let in to your personal space. You don’t mind spilling your feelings to, in the full knowledge that they will not laugh or think you are crazy. Always, always, true friendship is two way. For some it started in school and has lasted a lifetime, but for others that true friend may have come in later life.

Jesus wanted His disciples to be true friends to each other, and that would show itself as a selfless love to others. The best friends we can have are those who are of like mind in the faith and lifestyle handed to us by Jesus. Who is your best friend? If you are blessed to have that special person who you don’t mind sharing your personal highs and lows with, you are blessed indeed. Treasure that gift, and don’t take your friend or your friendship for granted. They are most likely God given.

Here and There

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

Like all Christians, I like, yes even look forward to the very thought of spending an eternity in heaven. I will see my Saviour there, and I will also see special family, friends and loved ones. What’s not to like? That’s the ‘there and then’, but what about the ‘here and now’?

I was reminded by a recent visiting pastor that while we ‘await’ our eternity in heaven, we must live our lives in the best way we can, before shuffling off this mortal coil. But we are imperfect and flawed. We are sinners only saved by grace, and in the sight of a Holy God. How then can we live up to the standard of our promised Holy eternity? The truth is, we can’t. We are human, and live in jars or pots of clay. As I was reminded, some of us are ‘crack(ed) pots’, or sometimes seen as crackpots by those who look on.

Our jars of clay, these human, earthly bodies, host a treasure, and we should never lose sight of this. Our ‘pots’ may be getting old and cracked, but our treasure within is perfect. Our job is simple. Use our plain, ordinary lives to point to Jesus within. After all, our body will fail us, but the treasure we hold is pure, eternal and Holy. That is what must be seen. So while we wait perhaps even impatiently for eternity, let us show this unfailing treasure within to all we meet. We just need to be transparent. Can you and I do this small thing in the ‘here and now’? Look at it this way, we need those cracks to let the inner light of our treasure to shine through. Looks like being a crack(ed) pot isn’t such a bad thing after all!!

Home

There usually comes a time, even when you are having a great holiday, whether long or short, you just feel like 'getting home', and nothing can shift the feeling. I have felt it on many occasions, and invariably the feeling only settles when I actually get to rest in my own place. My own chair. My own bed. My own family and friends. This is no reflection on the place you had been staying, or even the folks you spent your vacation with. It's an unshakeable and unmistakeable feeling. An itch that has to be scratched.

The first time the words truly hit home to me was from the lips of a great Christian man. A Godly example, and the greatest earthly influence on my life. In later life, Dad suffered from Parkinson's Disease, and took his illness with grace. He didn't grumble or complain about his lot, or ask us, or God, why this had fallen to him. However, there came a point when he had his eyes firmly fixed above, and said to me, 'I just want to go home'. Naively, and in my human thinking, I started to explain why he couldn't go home yet, after all, his treatment had not been completed. With a wry smile, tinged with a mixture of anticipation and yet sadness, he repeated with all the strength he could summon, "No, I want to go HOME"! There was a difference. It was etched on his face. I knew instinctively what he meant, and yes, he is really home now.

I have heard those same words since then, and have known what they meant, first time. Maybe you have too. Always spoken by Saints of God who can feel the tug of a loving God, saying to them, unmistakeably and personally; “It's time to come Home now my child.” My own prayer is that I will have enough grace to walk this life in humility, with all the ups and downs allotted, and still be able to say, "I want to go Home" when that unmistakeable tug pulls at my Spirit. Strangely, even from this vantage point, on this side of heaven, and with no desire for it to be soon, it does not strike me with fear. On the contrary, the concept of a waiting Heaven, with all the glorious benefits to be gained, can only be good. I acknowledge our Pastor's teaching on this truth, and I know it is a subject close to his heart too. In the meantime, slowly and surely, the words "Live Ready" take on more and more meaning!

The question is simple: “Where is your Home”?

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matt 6:20-21 (KJV)