Home is where the heart is

Our earthly home is the physical place we dwell in with our families, whether it's our childhood family or our adult family.  We have meals in our homes, we hang out with our families in our homes, and we sleep in our homes. We may entertain others in our homes, or they may come to stay with us for a while in our homes if necessary.  Thinking about our homes brings back memories, both good and bad.

If we are believers in Christ, we have a home waiting in heaven for us.  Jesus tells us so in John 14:2(a):  "In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you."  When we hear the word "mansion" in this modern time, we think about a large house with many rooms, luxurious accommodations, and maybe even a butler or maid.  However, the word "mansion" had a different meaning in Jesus' time. Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament defines the word "mansion" as follows:

Mansions (μοναὶ)

Only here and v. 23. From μένω to stay or abide. Originally a staying or abiding or delay. Thus Thucydides, of Pausanias: "He settled at Colonae in Troas, and was reported to the Ephors to be negotiating with the Barbarians, and to be staying there (τὴν μονὴν ποιούμενος, Literally, making a stay) for no good purpose" (i., 131). Thence, a staying or abiding-place; an abode. The word mansion has a similar etymology and follows the same course of development, being derived from manere, to remain. Mansio is thus, first, a staying, and then a dwelling-place. A later meaning of both mansio and μονή is a halting-place or station on a journey.

Our mansion in heaven, which will be our dwelling place, is where we'll be staying for all eternity.  Our mansion in heaven is our final station on our journey of faith. Paul also speaks of our future heavenly home in 2 Corinthians 5:1:  "For we know that if our earthly house, our tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Jesus states in John 14:2(b): "I go to prepare a place for you."  That means Jesus is building our heavenly homes Himself! 

When we are invited to someone's home for the first time, we are given the address of that home and sometimes directions to it.  But the way to our heavenly home is even better.  In John 14:6 in response to Thomas' question as to the way to Heaven, Jesus states that the only way to the Father is through Him.  Not only that, in John 14:3, Jesus states that He will come again (the Rapture) and receive us to Himself.  He will take us to our heavenly homes Himself!  Who needs a GPS when you have Jesus?

Have you ever wondered what our heavenly homes will look like?  Will they look like the homes we live in now?  Or does God have something better in mind?  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:9:  "But as it is written:  Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him."  Our heavenly homes will be even better than we can even imagine.

But we don't have to wait until eternity to live with Jesus and God.  In John 14:23, it reads: "Jesus answered and said to him (Judas, not Iscariot - in verse 22), 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will make Our home with him.'"  So if we love Jesus and God and keep His Word, Jesus and God will come and live in our heart.  Isn't that wonderful? Knowing that God and Jesus are living in our hearts makes us not want to sin, and makes us look forward to living with them eternally.

Given the state of our world today, I am looking forward to my heavenly home more and more each day and hoping that Jesus comes and gets us soon.  I hope that your eternal home will be in heaven and we'll see each other there. 

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

By the book(s)

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies, and so is writing.  God is an author and as you will see below, He is also a librarian. 

God’s main book, of course, is the Bible.  Divinely inspired and transcribed by men on two separate continents over thousands of years, the Bible gives us instructions in 66 books on how to live according to God’s will: it contains the history of creation and God’s chosen people Israel, Jesus’ life and ministry and the history of the early Church; and it tells us about what will happen in the end times and the final end of all mankind.  Jesus Himself is the Word, and the Word became flesh and walked among mankind.

In the Bible itself, four different kinds of books are mentioned.  The first book is the book of the Law.  This is the two tablets with the Ten Commandments.  You will see the book of the Law referred to in the Old Testament as the Testimony, and you can find the Testimony referred to in many verses in the book of Exodus, especially in the verses that reference the ark.  The Testimony (the tablets of the Ten Commandments) was placed in the ark. The book of the Law is also referred to in Deuteronomy 28:58, Deuteronomy 30:10, Deuteronomy 31:26 and Joshua 1:8. 

The second book is the Book of the Covenant. It contained all of the civil and health laws God gave to Moses in the desert for the people to live by.  The first reference to the Book of the Covenant can be found in Exodus 24:7.  In 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 34:30, King Josiah read the Book of the Covenant to all the people so that they would live for the Lord once again.  

Every person who has ever lived has a book in God’s library.  Each book contains everything a person ever did, whether good or bad.  The first mention of this book is in Psalms 56:8, where David says, “My tears are in your book.”  In Psalm 139:16, David says that all of his days were written in God's book even before he (David) was born.  Those people who were not resurrected at the first resurrection will be raised at the second resurrection, and at the Great White Throne judgment, everyone's books are opened and they are judged according to what is written in their book. 

The other book mentioned in the Bible is the Book of Life, which is sometimes referred to as the Lamb’s Book of Life (see Revelation 21:27).  The Book of Life contains the names of those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus for their salvation.  The first mention of this book (although indirectly) in the Bible is in Exodus 32:32. Moses goes up on the mountain to ask God to forgive Israel for their sin of worshiping the golden calf but if God wouldn't forgive Israel, then God should blot Moses out of His book.  God replies that anyone who has sinned against Him will be blotted out of His book. Paul refers to the Book of Life in Philippians 4:3. You can find many references to the Book of Life in the book of Revelations.  

If your name is written in the Book of Life, you will live with Jesus for all eternity.  Dear reader, is your name written in the Book of Life? If your name is not written in the Book of Life at the time of the Great White Throne judgment, you will be thrown into the lake of fire to suffer for all eternity (see Revelation 20:15).   If you don't want to spend eternity in the lake of fire, please repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus for salvation.  Read the Bible, God's main book, and learn about Jesus and about how God wants you to live. 

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check out this blog's podcast - you can find a podcast player embedded in the upper right-hand corner, and there is a share button, so feel free to share away. 

Diane

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around

Have you ever heard someone say when they're asked where they're going when they die, "I'm going to Hell. All my friends will be there and it'll be a great party!"? Dude (or dudette), your friends may all be there, but it ain't gonna be no party. Let's take a look at what Hell is really like.

Hell is described as a place with everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41)and unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12); a place of torment (Luke 16:23, 2 Thes. 1:9); and a place where there is a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). Hell is a place of fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:10). People in Hell are tormented with fire (Revelation 14:10) forever and ever (Revelation 14:11). They are punished eternally (Matthew 25:45). Doesn't sound like a very fun place to spend eternity, does it?

There is only one way to avoid going to Hell when you die, and that is to repent of your sins and receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your Savior. When you repent of your sins and ask Jesus to live in your heart, His Holy Spirit will come and live inside you and change you. You won't change externally, but internally you will be a new creation in Christ Jesus. You will have a personal relationship with Jesus. Friend, I urge you today to turn your heart and your life over to Jesus. You won't regret it. The only time it's too late to avoid going to Hell is after you take your last breath. I look forward to meeting you in Heaven!

That's all for now! Thanks for reading! See you again soon!

Diane

Prime choice

Did you ever stop to consider that your life is filled with choices?  Everything that happens in your life is a result of a choice you have made, with the exception of being born (someone else's choice), paying taxes (the government's choice) or dying (God's choice, unless it's suicide - then it's your choice).

Every day starts with a choice - should I get out of bed when the alarm rings or call in sick to work?  Or should I hit the buzzer and sleep five more minutes?  You then decide what to have for breakfast, what to wear to work, etc.  Even if you're doing nothing, you have made a choice - you could be doing something.

Some choices are easy. "Should I have eggs or cereal for breakfast?" "Should I buy this car or that one?" Some choices are hard.  "Who should I marry?"  "Should I have children?" "Should I take my loved one off of life support?"

There is one choice that is the most important of all - where you will spend eternity.  Where will you go when you die?  There are two choices here - you can go to Heaven when you die, or you can go to Hell.  There is no purgatory or in-between.

So if you have decided that you want to go to Heaven when you die, there's only one way to get there - through belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior.  You have to repent of your sins and ask Jesus into your heart and let Him rule over your life. Jesus Himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."

If you don't make a decision about where you want to spend your eternity, you have made a choice - you will go to Hell. If you have not yet made the choice to repent of your sins and ask Jesus to live in your heart, You can go here for details on how to do that.  I pray that you do so soon and not put it off.  As reflected in some of my other posts on this blog, you never know when your time on Earth will be up.  You will then wish for all eternity that you had made the right choice.

That's all for now!  Thanks for reading!

Diane