It is good to be home. There is comfort in the familiar, and rest in the routine. There is delight in the anticipation of interacting and worshipping with those I know and love. Yet with all that is known to me as “home” there remains an unrest, a longing. My satisfaction is not complete because there is the pull of an unfinished task, and the groaning of brokenness all around and within. I am not Home yet; this is not where I belong. I am really an exile, a stranger. But I am here on purpose under the loving care of the One who is Love – he demonstrated that by his sacrifice for me. I am here for a short time before I go home to “fullness of joy” and “pleasures evermore” (Psalm 16:11). That is where my Father is – my source, my sustainer, my security, my satisfaction, and my soul’s reward. Home.
As image-bearers we were designed to desire this higher purpose and ultimate good. We whose lives are “hidden with Christ in God” seek and set our minds on things above where Christ is (Colossians 3:2-3). That hope – that expectation – frees me from getting tangled in the weeds and briars of this short time in exile, weeds that cannot nourish my soul, painful briars that can lead to paralysis. That hope frees me to live.
That was Peter’s appeal to the displaced followers of Jesus in the first century. He called them (and calls us) not to focus on or be controlled or defined by adversity, but to remember who they are, and to keep Home in view. This is not a call to escapism, but to “live as people who are free” (1 Peter 2:16). Only free people can flourish and help others flourish. “Nihilism is fertilizer for anxiety and depression” writes psychologist Erica Komisar. “The belief in God – in a protective and guiding figure to rely on when times are tough – is one of the best kinds of support for kids in an increasingly pessimistic world.” Her article in the Wall Street Journal begins, “As a therapist I’m often asked to explain why depression and anxiety are so common among children and adolescents. One of the most important explanations – and perhaps the most neglected – is declining interest in religion.”[1] Then – get this – when parents ask her how to talk to children about death if they don’t believe in God or heaven, her answer is simple, “lie.” We can do better than that. We can incarnate the truth and hope of the gospel.
The world needs hope. We worship and serve the God of hope (Romans 15:13). Living as people who are free is living the gospel. This Sunday we begin a series through the book of 1 Peter. I have asked that the bookstore be stocked with Journaling Bibles so that as we journey through this encouraging letter by the apostle, we can engage in ongoing conversations about our hope and what it looks like to live as people who are free.
[1] www.wsj.com/articles/dont-believe-in-god-lie-to-your-children-11575591658
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