It’s the time of year for homecomings. Much of the weekend traffic this month is generated by people who are going home for the annual family reunion or homecoming celebration at the church of their youth. It is popular because it is a trip down memory lane, a return to simpler times of life. Sometimes it is just an orgy of food and drink, sometimes it is a genuine getting back to the basics for awhile.
For Christian to go back to their spiritual roots can be a springboard for revival. To experience a genuine spiritual homecoming, there are three common ingredients. First, there must be a past experience. There must be a time and a place when you made a commitment to Jesus Christ and validated it by a public believer’s baptism. People with this experience have almost total recall of the event. To go back to this is to see again the people God used during this spiritually formative time in your life.
Secondly, you need a present and ongoing relationship. Nothing has changed but the calendar and your address. You are living today in the faith reality of what started yesterday. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have (present tense) fellowship with one another”. (1 John 1:7) This continuing identification with other dynamic Christians is real.
The third element is a promise of homecoming in the future. Jesus prayed (John 17:24) that those who belong to him be with him where he is in a place that he has gone to prepare. (John 14:2) That grand reunion is the blessed hope of every believer.
The saints all around us now are our delight (Psalm 16:3) and will be our delight for eternity. I hope that your summer vacation includes an authentic homecoming. Work on it.
“Loving Father, we are thankful for the potential of Homecoming celebrations
this month. Give us courage not to miss this opportunity for spiritual renewal.
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