Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as
you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit.”
I often ask children, “where does Jesus live?” I used to do it at the beginning of Chapel at
a church I served that had a preschool.
They would always answer by putting their hand on their chest and shout,
“in our heart!” It still warms my heart
and brings a tear to my eye when I think about it. I want to give you a little of my history
with that little phrase.
When I was a kid attending Sunday School, VBS, and the like,
I must have heard “Jesus lives in your heart” a billion times. I have to admit that I never liked it. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe it had something to do with the sense I
had even as a child that sometimes, even adults who are supposed to be teaching
you something use phrases like that without really knowing what they mean.
Maybe it seemed to me to be overly sappy and sentimental. In any case, I didn’t
like it.
So when I became a pastor, I tried not to say that to
children for years. I would find other ways to talk about faith with
children. That changed early in a Chapel
service for the preschool and I have no idea why, but for some reason, that phrase,
“Jesus lives in your heart,” came out of my mouth.
I was thinking about it later and as I was, the words were
impressed into my mind, “I do live in your heart.” It was like Jesus placed it
there. That moment changed my mind and
I’ve been using that image to talk to children ever since. And it didn’t hurt
to see some of those children’s parents posting videos of their little ones
saying “Jesus lives in my heart.” Watching them say it, it is obvious that THEY
know what means.
What it means to me is that the source of our hope lives IN
US. It’s closer than your next
breath. Pay attention to it because even
though it’s in us, it is easy to ignore or forget. And the way we pay attention to it is another
hope-producing habit – Worship. The way
I envision this working is that when I worship, the Hope that lives inside me
connects with Hope that lives inside others and the Hope that is bigger than
all of us. And then, we “overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Worship is a powerful habit.
For some of you worship is a habit and I am so glad. For some of you, it was a habit at some time
in the past but is now a neglected practice.
For some of you worship has never been a habit. My hope for all of us is that it is a habit
we will practice now and for the rest of our lives. You can join me for worship every Sunday at
10:00 (or watch the recorded livestream anytime our YouTube channel (on YouTube,
search “Hernando UMC FL”).
Prayer: God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace as we
trust in you, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people who feel far from God right now.
Song: Selah – Come
Into My Heart/Fairest Lord Jesus
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