SPIRITUAL EXILES

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” – Jeremiah 29:11-13

Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon was littered with powerful words of encouragement that should mean as much to us today as when they were written many, many moons ago. As believers, we are all spiritual exiles, working our way through this journey and waiting for the day when Christ will reunite us all.

In John 14:3-4, Jesus tells his disciples: “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

No greater words of hope have ever been uttered. Christ has spent more than 2,000 years preparing a place for those who follow him, and, yes, we do know the way. The path to heaven was paved in blood, as he willingly hung on a cross for all mankind.

THE ULTIMATE LIFELINE

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” – Romans 5:3-4

It was one of the longest days of my life, but it taught me so much. We spent Sept. 28 at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, as our 8-month-old son, Gibson, underwent a one-hour surgery to correct a small birth defect related to his right kidney. The incision near his waistline will serve as a permanent reminder, not only of what my wife and I endured but of how God strengthened us both so we could persevere.

I joked somewhat seriously about needing to be sedated when the moment arrived for them to carry Gibson away from us. I wanted it to be me, not him, on that operating table, but that was not the hand we were dealt. Through prayers – my own and those of others – God empowered me to confront my greatest fear without as much as a hiccup. Those prayers were definitely answered.

As Charles Spurgeon put it, “Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. If you may have everything by asking in His Name, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.”

IGNITING THE FLAME

“Spirit filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows. They serve with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes. They hate sin with fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that radiates. Love is perfected in the fire of God.” – Samuel Chadwick

Nothing cleanses and purifies quite like fire. As Christians, we rely on the Holy Spirit to renew our faith through prayer and a daily relationship with God’s word. Consider it fire from above. John the Baptist spoke of it when he hailed Christ’s coming in Luke 3:16: “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am -- so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

The job of a Bible-based body of believers is, in part, to stoke those flames, to feed them with spiritual fuel, to ensure they never burn out. The church also carries a responsibility to ignite flames within people who have never experienced God’s love, his grace, his forgiveness, his mercy or his healing.

For centuries, Christ’s followers have answered the bell, no matter the cost, to ensure his flame continues to burn within his people.

STANDING OUR GROUND

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” – Psalm 1:1-2

As believers, we are set aside from the rest of the world by our faith in Christ. Yet, forces conspire against us, almost daily, in an attempt to draw us back to the people we once were. Pressures come from parents, friends, superiors, politicians and virtually every area of life imaginable. God has commissioned us to stand firm on our principles, to cling to his truths, no matter the cost.

Faith has cost me relationships with friends and family, not because of my commitment to it but because they have no understanding of it. Francis Bacon once wrote, “They are all ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but the sea.” Some people just cannot buy into something they cannot see with their own eyes.

Christ never promised us it would be easy to follow in his footsteps. Our reward for doing so comes later. As Matthew 5:10 tells us, “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

ASKING FOR STRENGTH

“When a man has quietly made up his mind that there is nothing he cannot endure, his fears leave him.” – Grove Patterson

In three weeks, Gibson, our 8-month-old son, will undergo surgery at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the procedure made necessary by a small birth defect in the tube that connects his right kidney to his bladder. The thought of turning over my blue-eyed baby boy to someone I barely know twists my stomach in knots. I realize that only through putting my trust in God, the one who brought Gibson into this world in the first place, can I save myself from my inner fears.

In Matthew 10:29-31, Jesus asks, “What is the price of two sparrows – one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

I must admit part of me is afraid. Perhaps that shows a weakness in my faith. Knowing something could go wrong, no matter how small the chances, leaves me unsettled, as the day in which they wheel my son into the operating room approaches. All I can do is pray, as I wait for God to strengthen and embolden my spirit in this difficult time.