Today's prompt: Ease
The dictionary describes ease as the state of being comfortable. And where are we the most comfortable? When we are at home!
"Make yourself at home in my love."
Those 7 words jumped out to me. I've always read John 15 in the King James translation: " If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you". For some reason this sounded hard. At all times I had to remain conscious of being in Him. This command came with a needling dread in the back of my mind, a constant push-did I remain in Him at all times today? Have I kept His commands? What if I missed one? I felt the need to work hard to make sure I was abiding in him so I wouldn't be cut off and cast into the fire and burned! No ease or comfort there!
The stress of this abiding would get to me. I would just give up for a while then try again. It didn't seem like the promise of bearing fruit for Him or asking what I will and expecting it to be done was ever going to be within my grasp.
Then I read these verses in the Message translation:
Make yourself at home in my love.
When I read this a sense of peace came over me. That didn't sound like it was a hard, striving effort. Being at home was easy, maybe I could do that, be at home in His love.
.Webster's dictionary defines home like this:
Home (noun)
A place where one lives especially as a family
A place of affection, joy, and happiness
A valued refuge and resting place
A habitation offering security and protection, where friendships flourish
This is sounding better and better. So I started to think about what being at home meant to me. Here are some thoughts on that.
Home is where we came from.
The area where my grandparents lived, my parents grew up and I spent the first years of my life, is always referred to by my family as "down home". Even though I have lived most of my life elsewhere, and none of the family is there anymore, it still feels like home. There is a feeling I get there that I don't feel anywhere else. My roots are there, that is where I came from.
Before I was born on earth, my home was in God. That is where my spirit self lived. My roots are still there, I came from His love.
.Daddy's home!
Remember the excitement and joy as a child of your dad coming home? Unless, of course, you had been bad and heard the dreaded words from your mom "Just wait until your father gets home!" Otherwise, he would walk through the door and you and your siblings would run to meet him, everyone talking at once, wanting him to know everything he had missed when he was gone.
Making my home with the Father is running to Him with the excitement and joy of a child greeting their Daddy. He wants to know everything we've been doing. He wants to rejoice with us, cry with us and correct us with love.
It feels good to be home!
You know the feeling, the on you get by walking into your house after being away. There is a rest, almost a sigh of relief, that comes from being at home. You can be yourself there like you can be nowhere else. We put on our most comfortable clothes and spend time just relaxing and doing nothing if we want. We can raid the fridge and eat what we want, anytime. We sleep better in our own bed and the shower or bath at home is more comfortable than anywhere else.
Making my home with Jesus is being comfortable with him, spending relaxing time just being in His presence. It is eating from His word and allowing it to cleanse me.
Make yourself at home!
Have you been invited to someone's house and been told: "just make yourself at home"? With this phrase they are inviting you to get relax and be comfortable, treat their home like yours.
In this scripture, Jesus invites us to make ourselves at home in His love. He wants us to relax and be comfortable there. He invites us to treat His love as our home. But how do we do that? First, we need to know what this home of love looks like. It is described in 1 Corinthians 13.
Making ourselves at home in His Love is to relax and be comfortable with Him, knowing He is incredibly patient with us. He will always be gentle and kind with us, we will never be made to feel ashamed or disrespected there. He isn't going to get irritated by our actions and won't fly off the handle at something we say so we can be ourselves with Him. He will celebrate our victories and take our side when we are wronged. His love is where our friendship flourishes, where dreams are shared, where goals and strategies are formed. His love is a place of affection, joy, happiness, and lots of laughter. It is a refuge and resting place that offers security and protection.
Doesn't that sound like a wonderful place to call home? We are so blessed to have that invitation to make ourselves at home there. The door is always open and He leaves the light on for us. I encourage you to accept His invitation today. Start learning to make yourself at home in His love, I know I am!
How do you find ease and make yourself at home with Jesus?
This was originally posted in Dec. 2018 and has been rewritten and edited for the #write28days challenge.
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3 comments
I love the Message translation—it helps me understand so much more of the Bible. I want God to be my home—without him, I can do nothing and I am nothing.
This post spoke to my heart about home. I loved this verse in The Message. Thank you for sharing it…it made it more real and understandable.
What a wonderful way to state this, “That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love. John 15:10 MSG”
You brought forth many memories of my childhood and of my children when they were young, Jodee.