Tom's Message - August 25
Hey, everyone!
Hope you’re having a day with more thankfulness and love…
and less worries and cares…
than yesterday!
Wouldn’t it be awesome if everyday had more thankfulness and love and less worries and cares than the day before??
Of course!!
Y’know, I read the most amazing verse this morning!
At first it might not seem so amazing but when you think about it, it really is!
Ready?
John 12:1: “…Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.”
Think about that.
Lazarus was from Bethany.
Then he died.
Then Jesus raised him back from the dead.
So he lived in Bethany.
Of course!!
If Jesus hadn’t done it, Lazarus wouldn’t have lived in Bethany. He would have been dead there!
I wonder, when John said “Lazarus lived in Bethany”, if he mighta meant just a little bit more?
As in…
“Lazarus lived in Bethany before, but after he came back from the dead, he REALLY lived there!!”
Don’t ya think he would have had lots of reasons and motives to REALLY LIVE like never before??
Of course!!
I read the other day that those of us who speak the Queen’s English first started to use the phrase “of course” in the 1540’s (Not me personally; I wasn’t here yet!). It meant “by consequence or in the natural order of things”…
from Latin “currere”, meaning “to run”…
as in “if you start running with a lot of steam down this course, you’ll inevitably arrive at this or that place”…
So, think about it…
If Lazarus had the opportunity to be in Heaven over the weekend and if he experienced the wonder of it all, wouldn’t he have been super thankful to have another chance at life and an opportunity to live more life…a life that really counts… in the light of the one to come?
Of course!!
And having breathed the air of Heaven and realized as never before that love reigns in the Kingdom of Love…
and maybe even sensed beforehand…
in the Land where there is no time…
what it would cost Love for us to eventually be there…
Wouldn’t he have understood (like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning) that nothing matters more than love?
Of course!!
And having walked around in that world where there are no more tears, no more sorrows, no more hunger nor thirst…
Wouldn’t it have made sense to Lazarus that it makes NO sense to have even one worry in this one?
Of course!!
And having had a glimpse in Heaven of that innumerable multitude from every language, tribe, people and nation…
who, having been so poor and needy down here…
are cared for so infinitely perfectly by the Lamb Who will shepherd them there…
Wouldn’t Lazarus know better than anyone could that to walk around down here with a heart full of care is just…dumb?
Of course!!
And isn’t a day with more thankfulness and love…
and less worries and cares…
than the day before…
just plain…better?
Of course!!