Setting Our Sights Toward Home, REPLAYED

When your journey is completed,
When the valley you pass through,
Fair and bright the home in glory
Your enraptured soul will view.

Hold to God’s unchanging hand,
Hold to God’s unchanging hand;
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand (1906)

By: Jennie B. Wilson (1856 – 1913)

Listen to this instrumental version as you prepare to ponder this hymn. Please make certain to enjoy the podcast below.

Here is podcast content always available to Subscribers, sometimes to Free Members, and occasionally to everyone.  Want to learn more about accessing all the additional material in the Subscriber Content Library? Click here.  Or check out some other samples at our Free Member Content Library.  We have lots of tools and options designed to help you be Resonant!  Check them out today!!

Everyone enjoy this podcast and transcript below!  It features meditative music and moments to contemplate the Scriptures and reflections shared.

Transcript may be found below, at the end of the blog.

We conclude our journey through this hymn that challenges us to build on the certainty of God in uncertain days. Looking forward to what God has in store for us impacts how we journey through these days. Let’s think about this.

Home

I have said many times before that it is sad how little time we spend thinking, talking, and teaching about heaven, especially considering how much time we are going to spend there. So let’s change that for at least the next few minutes.

When was the last time you thought about it? Heaven. The place where we are planning to spend eternity. I guess one could argue, I already have my inheritance there and it is my reward for following Christ, nothing more needing to be done to earn it. And while all that is true, thinking about where we are going to spend the rest of forever has an impact on the quality of life in these days.

Fair and bright the home in glory

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:3 ESV

Jesus promised not only that He was going to prepare a place for us, but that He would return to take us there. We have a home in glory. It will be fair and bright. We will see it with our eyes one day, but for now, we need Jesus to give us eyes of faith to see, even if only with our mind’s eye, our eternal home.

So what do you imagine it will be like? Clouds and harps? Maybe, but I do not think that will be all. I think we will enjoy God and each other. Think of the things you do in your home. Rest and relate with a smaller group of people. Prepare for the activities which take you beyond your home.

Some of us have spent a lot more time at home these past few months. At times I am sure that has driven you crazy, wanting to get out and do other things, but I hope you have also made the most of the quarantine to spend it enjoying those who were with you. It has probably also caused you to long for the experiences that home is not designed for, gathering in larger groups.

RESONATE!
We can enjoy our homes here, but we must also be careful to long for that which is coming. All the good things here are a shadow of what is to come. Are you longing for that home in glory, fair and bright as it will certainly be? Take a few moments before you read on and simply ask the Holy Spirit to give you an even deeper longing for your home in glory.

Gaze

Your enraptured soul will view. 

There’s an unusual word, enraptured. If something enraptures your soul, it is giving intense pleasure or joy to you. Certainly that will be the effect viewing our eternal home will have on us, in all its fairness and brightness.

When we finally see that place Jesus has been preparing for us, our souls will be consumed with intense pleasure and unimaginable joy. I can hardly wait. But even still, sometimes it is difficult to lift my gaze enough to allow it to be filled with that longing for my eternal home.

How about you? When was the last time you looked into the skies and hoped the return of Christ would happen soon? If it has been awhile, take a few moments right and do so. Maybe you can even get outside and look up. If not, look at the image above and utter a simple prayer like this. Thank You, Jesus, for promising to return to take me to the home You have been preparing for me.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6 ESV

We look forward to that eternal dwelling in the house of the Lord, but let us not forget the promise of goodness and mercy following us either. I would argue that knowing we will dwell in the Lord’s presence forever allows us to receive and extend mercy and help create an atmosphere where goodness is left in the wake of wherever we trod. What are you doing to cultivate goodness and mercy where you are so there can be a residue of them left behind even after you leave? May God give us the grace to build our hopes on things eternal, and live is such a way that anticipates them while inviting others to do the same.

RESONATE!
Ask God to help you to evaluate if your living is leaving goodness and mercy behind you. Ask Him to show you if there are ways you are too focused on daily living and how you can adjust your thinking to be more eternal. We all need to keep our gaze up, ever mindful of where we will spend forever, without losing sight of today. Help us, Lord.

Are these thoughts helping you to develop greater spiritual awareness?  Sign-up in the form to the right above to get updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.

Image Attributions
Fair and Bright Your Home in Glory – https://pixabay.com/photos/cloud-sky-yellow-sunshine-sunset-143152/
Your Enraptured Soul Will View – https://pixabay.com/photos/summerfield-woman-girl-sunset-336672/