The Gathering Place Where Family Matters

“To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints; Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:7).

Please remember that Christians are not perfect.
Sometimes we fail miserably in our actions and attitude.
There are times that we speak before thinking and then regret it.

Nevertheless, when a person places his or her trust in the Lord Jesus, God declares us to be saints on the basis of His grace. Paul instructed the believers in Rome that the Lord had completely changed them when He saved them. How amazing! Those who trust in Christ alone for salvation are really called “saints.”

The word saint is hagios which means “one who is holy, set apart by the Lord unto Himself.” This does not mean that the believer will automatically always live in a holy manner. In fact, no believer will ever be perfect on this side of Heaven. However, as a person who is declared to be a saint, a challenge goes out to remember who we are now and what the Lord declares us to be.

When new believers learn the great truth of their position as saints, at first it is overwhelming and almost unbelievable. It is both a blessing and a challenge. Many of us remember our mothers speaking to us as we headed off to school to remember “who we are, and I trust you will live accordingly.”

It is good for us to whisper to the Lord, “Now that You declare me to be a saint, I trust You to help me live accordingly.” That’s good for me as well.

For today: What a wonderful change in my life has taken place since I came to know the Lord.

Years ago I was a police chaplain in the city of Binghamton, New York, police department. Chaplain programs are very popular today. Police departments, fire departments, military, and other organizations wisely have chaplain programs.

I often was in the squad cars on Friday nights into the early hours of Saturday answering chaplain-related calls with my partners. One night, I will never forget it, my car got dispatched to a call really not chaplain-related, but we were available so went. I won’t tell you the occupation of the man. I won’t tell you the location in the city where we went. I will only tell you that it was a bitterly cold night. He and his wife were entertaining that evening and unwisely he had placed several bottles of alcohol out on his back porch.

Someone saw him doing this and stole it. He was furious. When my partner was taking the report, he had to ask the man the value of the stolen alcohol. I was stunned. The value of those several bottles was more than my total salary for the entire week.

My partner and I took the report, drove off, and both of us spoke of the lifestyle of someone who spent such money simply for entertaining. It reminded me of the illustration the Lord Jesus shared in His teaching. Let me simply share the Scripture and then I will send you on your way with a closing thought.

“And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God’ (Luke 12:16-20).

Off you go for today. But first, just remember I am not against having a wonderful house, a great salary, or material blessings. Just remember the most important thing is where you will spend eternity. It brings everything else into right perspective. My partner and I were in a beautiful house that night. We stood in obvious abundance. Money was thrown around that surpassed my entire salary for the week. But without Jesus Christ, when that appointment comes, only eternity will matter.

Jalopy!

According to Dictionary.com, jalopy (juh-LOP-ee) is a noun and means “an old, decrepit, or unpretentious automobile.”

Have you ever owned one? I have. Karen and I were young, newly married, poor as church mice and happier than I can describe. We needed a second car because she was working. I was still a student in Bible college and a part-time student pastor. We acquired a second car. In every sense of the word, it was a jalopy. We had a little tradition of naming our cars (silly, I know, but we enjoyed it.) So we named our jalopy after the man named in Acts 1:1 who was Theophilus because it was “the awfullest” car we saw on the highway.

Enough of my honest humor with you today. But there is a spiritual principle in all of this. Here is it. Maybe “nice things” might bring happiness for a moment. But it doesn’t take “nice things” to give lasting joy.

Think of what the Lord Jesus told us. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). He prayed to His Father, “And now I come to Thee: and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13).

Let me send you off today with these words. Friends, there is nothing wrong with trading in our “jalopies” and getting something newer and nicer. That’s not the point. The point of the matter however is this. Until you know Jesus as your Savior, you can have the nicest, the newest, the most expensive things and still not find lasting joy. Only a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself will bring you this joy.

As one person in a world of over 8.1 billion people, do you ever have the feeling of insignificance? Have you ever thought something like, “I’m just one person, what difference will I make?”

Let me assure you, if you have ever felt like that, you are not alone. At times, many of us have had fleeting moments of such feelings. These “feelings” and thoughts are not true.

You do matter. Even though you are just one person, you do matter, and you make a difference. Let me share a humorous illustration of how just one misplaced letter in church bulletins made a huge difference. Just one letter. I got these from mikey’sfunnies.com.

Thank you dead friends. Of course, this was supposed to be dear friends.
Bring one dozen coolies wrapped for Christmas. Of course, this was supposed to be cookies.
We pray our people will jumble themselves. Of course, this was supposed to be humble.

That one letter surely made a difference, didn’t they? So do you. Think of what the Apostle Paul told the believers at Corinth. “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him” (1 Corinthians 12:18). Every body is made up of many different functioning members. Every member is essential. So are you.

For today: Ask the Lord for wisdom and opportunities to function best as He has made you. You are essential.

Trivia.com recently put out a fascinating question. Let’s see if you can guess the correct answer. Which family built the largest home in America called the Biltmore Estate?
A. The Astor family
B. The Vanderbilt Family
C. The Rockefeller Family
D. The Carnegie Family

The correct answer is B. The Vanderbilt family. The Biltmore Estate, located in Asheville, North Carolina, is the largest private residence in the United States. This mansion, encompassing 175,000 square feet with 250 rooms, was built by George Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. The Vanderbilt family, one of the wealthiest and most influential families of the Gilded Age, originally owned the estate. Vanderbilt’s vision for the Biltmore was inspired by the grand châteaux of France, and stands as a testament to the opulence of the Vanderbilt family. The house is currently assessed at $157.2 million.

Friends, not even for one single moment can I picture an earthly mansion like this. Stop and think about it. If you know Christ as your Savior, something far more wonderful and glorious awaits you. “My Father’s House,” said the Lord Jesus (John 14:1-3), is beyond description. The best part of what awaits us is being with the Lord Jesus. “So shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4: 17); seeing His glory (John 17:24) and dwelling with the Lord is absolutely breath-taking.

“And I heard a loud voice from Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).

From my heart today: Keep the Biltmore as beautiful and spectacular as it might be. For us believers the best is yet to come.