From the Pulpit: 'Putting up' until 'moving in'

By: 
Pastor Dan Deardoff, Blessed Redeemer Lutheran Church
One of the most exciting things about living in Brandon is watching the new houses popping up everywhere like daisies in springtime. When I go on a walk I can’t pass a basement being dug or a rough framework going up without wondering what kind of family will move in and what memories they are going to make in their new dream home. It’s even more interesting to speculate about what kind of dwelling the family is living in now and what sacrifices they are making while they wait for their house to be completed.
 
One of our church families has a stake in a new house being built in town, and they are living in a trailer until then. If you have ever lived in a trailer home, you know they can be drafty in the winter and hot in the summer. They can also be extremely cramped, especially if the family living there is storing everything from their old house in one temporarily. It’s amazing what people will put up with while waiting for a better home to be built! 
 
It’s even more amazing what Christians can put up with on this earth if we know we have a better home to move into someday in heaven. The night Jesus was betrayed, he tried to calm his disciples in advance by telling them in John 14:1-2, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
 
When Jesus said he was preparing a place for us he didn’t mean that he was going to take a saw and a hammer and add another wing onto heaven. It is already big enough to accommodate millions, or maybe billions of people, and still be warm and cozy. He meant he was going to prepare a place for us by asking the Father to cancel our sins because he already paid for every last one on the cross. We could never earn our way in, or buy our way into a place as nice as heaven. Isn’t it nice to know by faith that God put our name on the deed to heaven? 
 
And knowing that, we can put up with a lot of inconveniences down here, including sickness, financial setbacks, and even the death of loved ones. We know these are temporary, and God and heaven are eternal. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
 
If we fix our eyes on him, we can put up with a lot down here, knowing that as it says in Hebrews 13:14, “For here we do not have an enduring city, be we are looking for the city that is to come.” Whatever physical or mental anguish you are going through, remember by God’s power you can “Put up until you move in – to heaven!” 

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