
Anyone who is willing to
hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the
churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden
away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will
be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
(Revelation 2:17 NLT).
Most of us enjoy getting
special gifts for no reason. A time when somebody thinks about us during part of
their day and goes out hunting for something special to give us. The value of
the gift is not important at all and even a gift from the dollar store is grand.
When others have those types of thoughts about us, it makes our day light up. We
feel special when someone thinks of us enough to put just a little energy into
helping us understand their thoughts.
There is a special gift that
God has prepared and is waiting until we get to heaven before He gives it
to us. It might be perhaps the most special gift other than the gift of life
forever in heaven. God has prepared a White Stone for each of us with a name on
it. The name on the stone is a name only He knows and the name one lover calls
another in private because it reveals something very personal about their
relationship.
God will give us a gift of
immeasurable proportions a gift that gives us a name based on our relationship
with Him. God is the most passionate of lover waiting for us every day to
romance us. We forget and think that our identity even our capacity to receive
gifts from God comes from our merit. We stay caught up in the thought of
striving for everything we want or need, even love we search for daily. The most
romantic lover of all is waiting for us; yet, we try to find other places that
we would rather be. These other places are spiritual abiding places not of God
that we go to find comfort and belonging. We often wander from place to place,
thing-to-thing never fulfilled. In John 15, Jesus tells us that we must stay
with Him and Him only. We must make our home with Him and He will make His home
in us. To stop the wandering we must realize that our identity comes from simply
"staying at home" and not trying to fill the void in other ways. It may be
surprising but holiness also comes not out of doing, but staying at home. Our
real home, which as Christians is Christ, remains in us. When we go out
place-to-place searching for love and fulfillment, that fulfillment is as close
as simply stopping to find it. Our home, our love, and our fulfillment is Christ
who is in us.
Where
are you looking for love today? If you will turn to Christ, you will certainly
find the deepest love and care that you could imagine. Nothing can compare to
Him. Give yourself completely to Him and see the difference it makes in your
life.
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