A guide to lead us each day

 

Galatians 5:5,

“For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” 

I was ten years old, and our family was going on our first real family vacation, it was not to granddads in Murray, Texas.  Not that I was not excited about going to see my Granddad, but once you had been to Murray, at the intersection of Farm roads 209 and 578, fourteen miles southwest of Graham in southwestern Young County, you had seen red dirt, old barns and the little mercantile store that sat at that intersection, there surely must be more to see.  Dad announced that this year he was going to take us to New Mexico to see the white sands and Carlsbad Caverns, where thousands of bats darken the sky as they leave each evening and we would be able to go into the many rooms in the great cave and see all kinds of limestone structures, and then we would be off to the Royal Gorge and walk across a bridge that spans this vast canyon and what looks like miles down, is a river that runs through it.  Dad said that was only the beginning of our vacation, next it was Colorado and mountains, I had never seen a mountain; we did have a bluff in Corpus Christ and from downtown it seemed like a mountain to my young mind.  But dad was not through, after leaving Colorado we were going to drive to the Continental Divide, a place he had always wanted to see.  It seemed like the months turned into years waiting for this vacation.

As I looked back to that trip and the eagerness of a ten year old, is that not what Galatians 5:5 is referring to?  Jesus promised when He left that He would send the Spirit of Truth to guide us daily into truth, and that each day would be a new trip and an exciting opportunity and that our Guide the Holy Spirit would lead us into faith, hope, and love, and abundant life.  Are you and I eagerly waiting, I mean we can’t wait to see God fulfilling His promises, as Abraham did, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Romans 4:18) 

Is it that we are looking with eagerness for our home, the one that Jesus has gone to prepare for us, that we are missing the excitement of today’s adventure?  The apostle Peter tells us how to be prepared for today’s adventure, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice