HOME

 “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” ‭‭James‬ ‭5:16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Honesty

Optimism

Mercy

Encouragement 

What makes a place home?

    There’s an old saying, “Only love can make a house a home.” Family living together in a shared space? The place we feel the most comfortable. The place we can be ourselves. Home - the place where secrets are nonexistent, challenges are met with optimism, failure is overcome by mercy, and dreams are encouraged.

    Think about that picture of a home for a moment: Home - the place where secrets are nonexistent, challenges are met with optimism, failure is overcome by mercy, and dreams are encouraged. If that wasn’t the home you grew up in, why not? If that wasn’t the home you grew up in, would you have liked to?

“The Lord curses the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the upright.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3:33‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15:31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    God loves us. He desires the best for us and He will fill our lives with blessing if we have the courage to be honest with Him, ourselves and others. Home is the place we first experience the benefit and blessing of honesty. I don’t know about the home you grew up in, but the home I grew up in, the home I remember was filled with the wisdom and word of God.

“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    Honesty and optimism might seem like conflicting concepts. How can we be completely honest and optimistic at the same time? After all honesty is harsh, unbending, and brutal. Optimism, on the other hand, is cheerful, upbeat, sunshine and roses in spite of the rain. They cannot coexist in the mindset of this world. However, the Christian mindset finds their balance in love.

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    Love is optimistic. We learn to balance truth and love, reality and optimism as we grow in the likeness of Christ. 

“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:14-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    The building blocks of a strong home are honesty, optimism, mercy, and encouragement. If these elements are not found in our homes, our families will crumble under the weight of life’s pressures. Without mercy there is no redemption. It was the mercy of God that brought us back into relationship with Him. It was our honest recognition of our sin that started us on our journey of faith; but, it is all rooted in the love God has for us. 

“The godly are directed by honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭11:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    Mercy is what we offer our family to help overcome the past. Forgiveness, grace, and mercy are the cords that bind us together as a family. All of us have failed in some form or another. We would all fall beneath the load of our sin. But, God at just the right time showed mercy toward us. Because of His mercy we can give encouragement to each other.

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:23-25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

    We say that we are the family of God, but what do our homes demonstrate? Are the churches we congregate in places that make people feel at home? Do we still believe, “softly and tenderly Jesus is calling…Calling oh sinner come home.”