Sabbatical Day 3 (Sunday)

Sabbatical Day 3 (Sunday)

It was a bit strange being away from the family we worship with each week. It was a day of losses all the way around. Lisa and Zach returned home after lunch. Together with the absence of our church family the day seemed a bit empty. There was simply a sense of loss. While my role is to pastor, the people I shepherd are also my family. For 11 years I have dedicated their babies, baptized them, counseled them, performed marriage ceremonies, prayed with them before medical treatment, sat in their hospital rooms, watched their loved one breathe their last, and then embraced them as they said goodbye at the cemetery.

We have (the church) paid their mortgages, bought groceries, given vehicles, etc. We are a family. However, it is not what we do for each other that makes us a family, it is the one for whom we do it, that binds us together. It is not that we have chosen each other, but he has chosen us. To love those whom he has given us. Each person is a special treasure to God and he desires that we go out and love others as he has loved us. It is this love that binds us together as the Family of God.

There are many definitions of love in our world today. But there is only one God, and he defines love out of who he is, not out of what we say about him. God’s love is an expression of his very nature and is manifest in the person of Jesus Christ. God’s love is only limited by his inability to go against his own nature and plans. In the family of God we are to freely love with his love, just as he loved us. How? He showed us in Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the love of God in flesh. He is, because he is both man and God. Showing us what it is to be human, filled with his Holy Spirit.

Though I felt a bit of loss today, I realize that there is no loss at all. For in Christ there is only gain. Though I may be parted for a time, in the end all things will be restored and life will be the fuller. The delay may seem long but our sweet reunion is always but a day away.

Lord, I look forward to your return. You are patient in reaching all who would be saved. Though for a time we suffer loss and trials of all kinds we know that you love us and remain with us as we journey on the way. May your peace comfort us, and your love drive us to bring forth new born believers into your wondrous family. As you entrust them to us, may we also be faithful to feed, nurture, and shepherd them into your paths of righteousness for your names sake.