Christ at Home

Common [Southern] words of hospitality are “help yourself” or “make yourself at home.”   Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean get up and do it yourself or to kick your shoes off nor is it an invitation to take a seat in Mister Bill’s recliner! It’s no secret how deeply the Apostle Paul loved and was devoted to Jesus Christ.  Why, then, would he write these words: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ  for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Romans 9:3, ESV).  This tells us he was willing to relinquish all Christ was to him for the sake of his friends – those who didn’t know Jesus his Savior.  I suspect few of us fully comprehend the seriousness of Paul’s statement.  Oswald Chambers puts it like this: “Paul said he knew how to be a ‘doormat’ without resenting it, because the mainspring of his life was devotion to Jesus.”  Here, God [through Paul] is describing the depth of commitment He longs for.  Paul’s relinquishing of himself to God is also heard in these words, “I will most gladly spend and be spent …” (2 Corinthians 12:15).  You see, not easily but quite simply, God wants to hear us say, “Father, come on in – make Yourself at home in my heart." It's the home He desires most.