Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message

 

No Place Like Home!

 

Dorothy Gale from the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz said, "There's no place like home":

In the movie's final scene, Dorothy wakes up in her bed and says this line after being transported to Oz by a tornado. 

The phrase is often used to express the feeling of comfort and familiarity that comes from being at home.

We all may have repeated this line quite a few times in the past. But today, let us think about this: where do we think is our home?

  Is it this? The earth. 

                                    Or this? Paradise. 

If it is paradise where we want to live, we have to work towards it.

First, we have to find the way and the way is clearly mentioned in John 14:6, where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. There is no way we can get there on our own. We need Jesus.

Second, we must prepare ourselves by changing, ourselves, people and life around us. We cannot have a dual personality - one for the earth and one for paradise. Unfortunately the cares of this world and its pressures create an "anti-paradisical" personality in every one of us. But Once we know our home, we need to change. We must behave here as our home in paradise expects us to. This is done by emulating Jesus on earth so that we live with Him at home.

Remember what Philips Brooks said -

"Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would (still) be God's Paradise".

As we prepare to live in our home, we stop dreading death and instead view it as the gateway to heaven.

Finally, we must remember that each one of us, individually, has to pave our own path to paradise. No one can be responsible for us. The responsibility and onus are ours. 

Paradise Gained

Man does nothing without a reason.

President Dieter Uchtdorf once said ... "what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are — and who we will become". He was speaking about how and why we love God.

So, the question today is - why do we love God and Jesus? Is the reason temporal or eternal? If eternal, are we really so concerned about life and death after we have died here, a state we cannot see today. Or are we more concerned about the business of life today.

Why we love God, Jesus and His Holy Spirit is a very personal question, different for each one of us. An anonymous writer says this-

"I was recently asked Why I love God, His only Son and His word? It is quite simple really. Because I am not satisfied with what I have in this world today.

I want to be in a world where I can play with a lion, run with the deer, walk where I want without the fear of being hurt. A world where there is no sickness. A world without borders and visas where I can travel anytime to meet anyone, anywhere. A world which does not need electricity or air conditioning. Where there are no poor or hungry, no violence against man, woman or child. A world where there is no fear, because there is only love. Where we are never going to be parted from our loved ones. A world where everyone loves and respects everyone else. There is no hate. There is no envy. No possessions to dictate a status. No languages to differentiate people. A world filled with love and laughter.

There is no government in this "world" because there is nothing to govern. There is only the creator and Son, and one can walk up to them at anytime and shake their hand, and praise them for what they have created and done. Where they are the parent to each one, loving us beyond anything we have known or experienced. Where there is no punishment because there is no crime.

Does a place like that exist outside of our minds? Absolutely.

We would have been in such a place, but for these Adam and Eve charectors. But today, to get there I need to get myself a mystical ticket - being distributed by this mystical being called Jesus. No money is required except we must believe that His ticket is valid to get us through. He earned this job by paying a very high price - His own physical torture and death. He paid that price so he could give these tickets to anyone who believed in Him.

The ticket window is open 24X7 and the ticket Giver is always available. If you haven't got a ticket, I will advise you to get is asap. The window is a trifle hard to find but here is the route map."