NO VACANCY !!

 

I haven’t flown anywhere in the last 10 years. Because I’m old and my arms get tired.  I’m sorry, sometimes I become a little ditzy listening to the spectacular news reporting of incidents where airplane powers-that-be have hauled allegedly innocent people off planes.  People have been threatened with handcuffs if they don’t leave, because somebody more “important” is boarding.  The plane has overbooked.  Folks are booted off if their baby is behaving, well, like a baby.  These passengers have tickets in hand.  Nevertheless, bump, off ya go.  I do understand that “small print” is involved, so yes, the airline ivory tower can reverse our destiny, no matter how kindly, or rudely, we may protest. Maybe the polite thing to do would be to send a preemptory “no vacancy” text to passengers to prevent boarding trauma.  At any rate, I’ve decided that possibly I might enjoy cross-country dunebuggy travel, the better to appreciate roadside scenery.

Actually, this overbooking isn’t a new-fangled idea.  Remember when there was a No Vacancy sign at the inn for Jesus’ parents (Luke 2:7)?  They were booted to less desirable accommodations.  Remember when Jesus spoke to the Jews, telling them that although they were descendants of Abraham, “My word has no place in you” (John 8:37)?  Sadly, there was “no room” for His word in most people’s hearts that were already overbooked and overflowing with earthly things.  He was the Son of Man, and He had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20).

You know what occurred to me?  I suspect that some people harbor a secret fear, that they step through heaven’s door and then hear the booming voice, “We don’t have room for you, somebody more important than you just showed up, we overbooked heaven.  Sorry about that, but out you go!”

I confess that, as a baby Christian, that thought was dancing around in the back of my mind.  Thankfully, His very Word rooted out that unsettling fear.

My God, I am so humbled that You have securely and permanently saved me.  It’s not because I bought myself a ticket to heaven, but because my Jesus bought it for me.  By Your grace, I have been permanently saved (Ephesians 2:8).  It’s not because I’m important, but because You are sovereignly important (John 1:12).  You do not change (Malachi 3:6) and my Jesus does not change (Hebrews 13:8), so once You saved me, You will never boot me out.   You have not sneaked any “small print” into my heavenly boarding pass contract that could be reason for my expulsion. Because of my Jesus, I have permanently “passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

“Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3).

 

 

 

 

ARE WE COMFY?

Back in my youthful days, I used to wear size 7-1/2 shoes.  Over time, something sinister, like gravity, has taken hold, and now my average shoe is a whopping size 9.  Since “comfort” is now my middle name, no 6-inch pointy-toed pinching instruments of torture for me.  No sirree, gimme shoes with stretchy fabric and marshmallowy insoles.

Yes, being comfortable seems to become more important the older I get.  I want things to be easy, not hard, I want to feel good, not bad.  I had a friend once say, “what is life, if not to be comfortable?”  I remember cringing at that remark … yet, here I am, craving comfort in my shoes, my pillows, and my car.

But thankfully, the Lord loves me so much that He’s spent the last 3 decades teaching me that life is more than squooshy comfort.  As I’m learning to know Him, I’ve found that sometimes His Word is not comfortable at ALL.  In fact, more often than not, it “pinches” my heart. And the crazy thing is, this is one area where I actually WANT to be somewhat uncomfortable.

So I need to check myself, as I do my daily reading.  Am I looking only for the “comfortable” verses?  Or do I want to experience growing pains from His words?  If I’m opening myself to Him as I read, and ask to be taught and convicted of sin, I know that He will do it.  He certainly wants me to be comfortable and secure in His love, promises, and salvation.  But beyond that, He also desires that I grow up in Christ (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:15).  That means being willing to accept conviction and discipline.  I am blessed when He chastens me (Psalm 94:2).  He reproves me because He loves me, as His child (Proverb 3:11, 12).  Therefore, I accept the pinching of my soul and not reject it.

My compassionate, loving, and reproving Father, how I thank You that You have planted me into a church that doesn’t offer pinch-free sermons so that I can feel good about my sins (and no comfy spiritual shoes to walk through that very wide door to hell).  You have given me brothers and sisters in Christ who are able and willing to be the “Nathans” in my life (2 Samuel 12).  You didn’t save me just so I could have a comfortable life on this earth.  You saved me to glorify You, to grow in Christ, to do Your work which You have prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10), and ultimately, to be like You, and with You, for all eternity.  I praise You, that you have “opened my lips that my mouth may declare Your praise” (Psalm 51:15).