My Devotion
My Heart
At Home
By Teresa Preston Jenkins
Therefore we are always confident and know as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2Corinthians 5:6-8
I often wonder why I internally struggle with so much. For example, I can get into a confrontation with someone, it doesn’t really matter who, but the closer I am to the person I have a conflict with the more I struggle with it. Whether I’m right or wrong in the confrontation does not matter, if I’m right it is no justification that I’m right and if I’m wrong I struggle just the same. I DO NOT like confrontation, disagreements, and strife. I don’t go around seeking out trouble, I don’t stir the pot, sometimes I step outside my boundaries and accidently offend someone, but I don’t maliciously set out to embarrass and hurt other people. What makes me angry in the situation is not necessarily what the other person did, but how I “fleshed out”. That’s what my husband calls it, “fleshing out” allowing my fleshly nature to control me, the ego who will lash out in defense or offense…it always makes for a very ugly scene…and the healing time takes much longer to get over and off on the sideline is an evil bystander hissing his evil laugh because once again individual egos did his job for him. Damaging relationships and even worse personal testimonies of people professing to be children of God.
I am learning that the struggle of human nature, the flesh, goes much deeper than what we can see or communicate. Paul nails it; we are not at home with the Lord. As long as we live in this body, on this planet, in this world of sin we will always be at conflict between good and bad. But there is just enough good in this life that keeps us torn up between what we have and what is waiting for us with the Lord. We can only imagine what God has waiting for us, He gives us clues and glimpses of heaven in His word, but here we can see some good that is good enough to keep our hearts torn between the two.
Yet the Spirit inside us, the Holy Spirit, knows the mind of God, and it’s that knowledge that our words cannot describe that puts a long in us for something better but since we cannot see it we are drawn and held captive by what we can see. What makes you happy in this life? What brings you joy? What do you take pride in? A good job, a family, a nice house, travel, or friends? There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of your answers, those are blessings from God, much of what God blesses us with in this life is just a taste of what He has in store for us when we get to heaven. But it is what we know, it’s good and we are tied to it physically what is heavenly we cannot see with these eyes that we see with.
So if we are at home in the body, but we are not at home it is no wonder we struggle with so much. The more we surrender to the Holy Spirit is the key to learning how to live in this world until Jesus calls us home either individually or when He calls us as a group. If we not only have the mind of Christ, but learn how to use the mind of Christ petty differences would be non-existent. But we just can’t let go of what we can see to hold onto what we cannot lose. If the mind of Christ controlled our mind instead of the other way around how would life be any different? Oh to even imagine it is difficult, but I think it would be as close to being at home with God as it could be this side of eternity.
When we all get to heaven will be a day of rejoicing we have never seen that will never end. What if we practiced that now? What if we lived as if the kingdom was already here? Wait a minute the kingdom of God is already here, the kingdom is within each person who professes the name of Jesus Christ and He lives within the hearts of every believer, we are citizens together waiting for our return flight home. Until then nothing should be more important than living the kingdom life right where we are.
Impossible? It all depends with which set of eyes you are looking through. Paul prayed; I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his might strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power, and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Ephesians 1:17-21
With all that on our side, what on earth are we upset about? Nothing is more powerful than the power and might that God used to raise Christ from the dead after being dead for three days and that same power is at work in you and me. I don’t know about you, but I want to surrender my life, my will, my thoughts, my actions, my attitudes, what I know and what I cannot know to God give Him full authority, rule and reign over my life so that I can experience that power working for me. Lord help us see you bright and wonderful with the eyes of our heart and blind us to the illusion that life in the body is much better than life in You. I want to be at Home in You. In Jesus Name…Amen.
In HIS Time
Teresa
My Devotion, My Heart by Teresa Preston | ISBN # 978-1-61566-460-3
