1 Peter 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
I heard a statement this morning...."you need to learn to like where you are from". Of course the first thing that came to mind is where I was born. I began to think of how, growing up in that midsize town in Louisiana, it never seemed to be where I belonged. I wonder how many of us feel this way as we are growing up. So many times, the young people of a place leave it as soon as they are old enough as it just does not seem to suit them.
Then the Lord began to show me that so many people do not like where they come from because they tend to think of it geographically and not spiritually. It is about location....location....location. And then the thoughts of so many think about station in life. The difference of who our parents were, whether we lived on the "right" side of the tracks or not, if our fathers worked in the field, on the water, or in a building downtown. So many thoughts fly rampant when we think of where we are from. And, so many of us have a strong dislike of what we think.....what we look at.....what we remember.
The same God that supplies for your neighbor supplies for you. The same God that heals your employer, heals you. The same God that metes out favor for the man or woman in the big house or the smaller house....metes out favor for you. The Lord, our Lord, is not a respecter of persons. He sees each of us as He made us.....His child. What we have, what we don't have, is not what interests our Lord. What interests our Lord is that we are His, His chosen.
Look beyond the place of where you think you are from. Look beyond the parents that raised you. Look up to the Lord that breathed breath into you. Look up to the God that lovingly drew you to Himself on a cross so many years ago. See instead a Father that reaches to you in love and tenderness. Feel the love that is poured out on you just as it is being poured out on to someone across the world. Feel the gentleness of a tear being removed as our Lord comforts a widow, an orphan, or a grieving child or parent at the loss of a loved one. Look beyond a map that shows a city and see the Father that adopted each of us into His household, to give us hope and joy, peace and expectation. We did not come from a town, a state, a country.....we did not come from rich or poor parents, good or bad parents....we came from a Father that wants nothing more than to provide the richest life ever offered to anyone. And that life is available to all who call Him Lord, who rejoice in knowing He is our Father.
Dear friends, that same hand that is guiding your brother or sister in the Lord, that same nail scarred hand, that same hand is the one on your shoulder guiding you, with love, with peace, with mercy and grace. Learn the real meaning of where you come from, who holds you in His hand, and you will have the pure joy of knowing exactly where you are going. Where you come from will be a pleasure to remember, and it will make the path you are walking on, bright with anticipation for each day to come.
I come from my Father's heart, His heart of love.....I love where I am from, I love where I am bound for.
Pat's Pennings
02-14-13
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