Tag: Abraham

For Sale

It is always a bit melancholy seeing your house in the listings. 41 Coneflower Dr, West Henrietta, NY 14586 | realtor.com® . We lived here 12 years. Really, we raised three babies there. Yes, the youngest two aren’t fully baked, and the oldest has already boomeranged, but that was home. And it was a really good one.

But when you think about homes you are really thinking about the people and the activities that were centered around that place. When you’ve moved you are in that liminal space living off hope. You have left behind something good that was completely known. You are looking for a new hub. You are meeting new people. You are living on the promise that God intends good for his people, hoping that you haven’t made a big mistake just because you felt an itch. Or because you felt a call to someplace new.

My story isn’t perfectly like that of Abraham setting out from Ur. He was leaving family. We are living with my parents for the time being. But every move should have the Christian reflecting upon Abraham. While we are now looking for our “permanent” home, none of our homes here are permanent. Every move is an intimation of our final move to the promised land. Every liminal time of living on hope is an image of the Christian life of seeing that promised land from a distance while being sojourners here. Every move is an act of faith, that God is the same God everywhere, and there is no other. And He keeps his promises.

The Apostle Paul says “he forgets what lies behind and strains forward to what lies ahead.” Although if you read the rest of Paul, I don’t think the man forgot anything. It’s a spiritual statement. If one holds onto things past too tightly, the warning is Lot’s wife, turned into that bitter pillar of salt. That does not mean that one can’t take the good things. Paul soon follows that statement with “only let us hold true to what we have attained.” You get to keep the good stuff. Your life is hidden with Christ. Things that are built here alone are all destined for the fire. But the good stuff is treasure in heaven. The good stuff is what has formed our souls on our journey.

Missing the Obvious


Full Text
Texts: Luke 16:19-31 and Amos 6:1-7

Many heirs of the reformation can get tangled in a web of worry about legalism and works righteousness. But it is not works righteousness to encourage Kingdom values. And that is what Jesus is warning about. Decisions we make today solidify in eternity. Nobody sets out for hell, but we can end there anyway.

We all have a Lazarus at our gates wanting mercy. Can we see him? Can we discern who or what he is? If you can’t maybe its time to listen to Moses and the prophets.

One the one hand there are two big tempting fallacies: 1) history is one long decline, the past was more righteous and 2) to let the law overwhelm the gospel. They both reinforce the other. We never live up to the law. And if we become too disappointed in that, everything looks bad in comparison to the heroic saints who have gone on to their reward. I walked the line here. I’m sure some would say I walked over the line and then some. But this parable is the end of Jesus’ two chapters of parables of how the kingdom works and his great warning for those who don’t get with the program. It is the law in service to the gospel. The law is suppose to show us our sin, and chase us to the Word for grace.

From a very this worldly practical standpoint, we become what we practice. We are creatures of habit. If we practice virtue, it becomes easier. (Never easy, its a fallen world.) If we practice telling ourselves and our kids that the Word of God is meaningless, then we quickly find that we can’t hear it at all. And when you can’t hear the Word, you miss the Lazarus sitting at your gate. Luke 15-16 is a very this worldly section. Its about how the Kingdom works right now. What you choose hardens. Gates become chasms. We are all being forced into the Kingdom, the question is which side of the gate/chasm?