Pastor Douglas Thompson
Vacationing as Jesus Did
Summer is vacation time–the two are synonymous with each other!Families are out on the highways, taking trips to faraway places. Parks and resorts are filled with people who come to fish, swim, explore, or just to relax.
Summer camps are in full swing, as well as family camping and get-togethers. Vacations are for fun, and they are good for us. Everyone needs a change of scenery and a time to relax, getting away from it all as the saying goes.
Jesus didn’t seem to get much time to rest during his 3 years of preaching, healing, and teaching. Once He became so tired from teaching the people all day, that He fell asleep as He and His disciples were crossing a lake. On another occasion, so many people were crowded around Him and His disciples that they weren’t able to eat.
So, Jesus purposely set aside some time for relaxation–He carved this precious time out of His intensive activity. He told His disciple, ‘Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31 -32)
Sometimes Jesus went out all alone to spend some intimate time in prayer with His heavenly Father. The Bible tells us about one of these ‘vacations’: “…and in the morning, a great while before day, He rose and went out to a lonely place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
We can learn from Jesus to make our vacations a time for refreshing our spirit as well as our relationship with God and our family. A vacation is an opportunity to come closer to God. Like Jesus, we can spend some time alone, talking to our heavenly Father and thinking about His great love and incredible faithfulness toward us. Perhaps a beautiful little get-away or scenic area can give us a clearer idea of God s glory and majesty. So if you can at all, get away from it all–get outside, and connect anew with God somehow, someway, in His great outdoors.
Wherever we go, let s remember that we are still God’s child, and that He is always near us. Let s vacation with God, and not away from Him. Seek out some time alone with Him, perhaps at a nearby church, and worship our one God with the folks there.
Have a great, relaxing, enjoyable vacation this summer- – but don’t take a vacation from God!
-Pastor Douglas
God, our Loving Father
Luke 15:11-24
Father’s Day is coming up! So let s focus on God as our Father!
Flumanity tends to project its own faulty habits onto God at times. This is especially true regarding the nature of His love. We may think we must barter, plead or try harder to earn the LORD’S love. But as the prodigal son learned, our Father’s love is unconditional.
The wayward son expected his father’s love to be diminished. Therefore, he went home hoping for a place among the family servants. Imagine the boy s delight when Dad greeted him with a hug and a celebration. His actions certainly didn’t merit an outpouring of affection, but Jesus’ parable is all about a Father who doesn’t give people what they deserve. It’s called mercy and grace, and you certainly have experienced it already, haven’t you?
A love based on conduct would keep people guessing, Have I done enough? Am / good enough? Instead, God cares for you simply because you’re you, His greatest creation, and He expects nothing in return (AlthoughGod hopes for a lifelong loving relationship with you!).
Consider the prodigal’s life after his homecoming party. He didn’t move into the servants’ quarters and go to work. No, not at all! He was reinstated to his place as the second son of a wealthy man, with all of the privilege that entails.
In the same way, believers are the LORD’S cherished children (2 Cor. 6:18). When God looks at us His loved ones, He doesn’t focus upon our past failures, faults, or sin. And, our present shortcomings doesn’t keep God away from us either. He sees the us as heirs to His kingdom–men and women who love Him and desire to spend eternity in His presence!
No matter how far we may wander from the LORD’S perfect will for our lives, we are always welcomed back. The Bible teaches that God’s incredible, indescribable, and infinite love will always be alive and present! Our Father’s arms are always open, for you!
So, continue to live for Him, because He died for you!
-Pastor Douglas