Returning Home

Reading: John 7

"Everyone went to his home." John 7:53

Examination:

In the verses preceding this one an incredible debate has been waged regarding Christ's being the promised Messiah. These crowds of people had been following Jesus. They saw many miracles; yet were unable to see the God behind them. They heard incredible and new teaching; yet were unable to make changes in their hearts. They each were seeking the Messiah; yet were unable to see Him standing before them. The power to fulfill every prayer they had ever prayed stood before them, but they went to their homes empty.

Application:

I think this verse is one of the most frightening I have read in some time. Each day I wake up and roll through my duties. At night, I return to my home. The events that fill the gap between my getting up in the morning and laying back down at night determine the experience that I will have for all of eternity.

As I read John seven I am taken aback by how vividly God can be at work around me and I miss it. I am no better or no different than the people of this passage. I can go throughout my day seeing, but not seeing; hearing, but not hearing, and seeking, but not finding.

Prayer:

You never fit my knowledge base. Everything I think that I know can blind me from seeing the truth about You. I confess to You that my greatest desire is to know You more. Help me to seek You in truth but to also avoid boxing You in by what I learn. Teach me to return home each day have experienced You in new and fresh ways.

You never follow religious rules or rituals. There is nothing wrong with tradition. There is nothing evil in consistency. There is actually quite a bit of Biblical evidence supporting the celebration of certain religious activities. That said, it is hard to not allow the tradition to close me off to different expressions of You. It is easy to allow consistency to create complacency. I pray that I return to my home each day have been taught by You how to never be bound by what is accepted as normal.

You are not bound by time. You do things in Your own way and in Your own time. For me, on the other hand; time is finite. I will only return to home some many times in my life. One day I will breath my last and the time I have will have expired. Develop inside of me a health sense of urgency regarding the precious time I have been given. I pray that the condition in which I return to my home each day prove that I learned to love Your more deeply, serve You more purely, and reflect You more brightly.