I am eagerly longing to gather with you all again to worship our loving God. I have heard it said that “heaven is where God is.” But God is everywhere, isn’t he? God is omnipresent. He is then “present” in your home, the workplace, the mountains where you hike, the grocery store, the highways where you drive, your schools, sports teams, and sleepovers…
But to say God is everywhere, it doesn’t mean he is present in the same way everywhere. God is God. He is love. He is holy. He is joy. He is just. He is gentle. He is truth. God has all the wisdom to know what to be, when to be, and how to be.
But there is something beautiful about the presence of God in the gathering of believers within the church.
There was a Kurdish Muslim woman who joined our church in the Middle East for a Sunday morning service back when Cassie and I were serving there. She didn’t know many people then. We happened to be sending off a beloved, faithful family of eight to Canada. They were with our church for about a decade. We shared memories, joys, and thanks for our life together, as we were sending them off.
In the middle of the time of sharing stories as a church family, the Kurdish woman from afar sitting on the opposite end of the table witnessing this loving community, started to well up with tears. She was a mother of six. She was a bit of an entrepreneur by personality. Her husband, sometime after she joined our church, abruptly left one Saturday morning to Europe with a smuggler (he only could say goodbye to one of his daughters…the rest were working in the factories). She was alone, anxious, and eager to find hope. Thank God she did!
She soon came to faith in Christ after this core church family left. Why do think? Well, God is everywhere and working. But in the beginning, she saw the love of God in the church community. She then heard the love of God through the gospel regularly on Sunday mornings. She studied and meditated on the love of God during Bible studies on home visits.
The Spirit of God in love and power used these simple ways to draw her to himself profoundly.
It all started with the church of God living in genuine loving community. I know some of you have come to faith because of this same exact experience. God’s kingdom of love is breaking into this dark world. The church of Christ makes the invisible kingdom of love visible.
LifeWay family, thank you for being that for me, for one another, and the watching world. Truly, I get to taste and see a piece of heaven each and every Sunday we gather in loving worship of our God. I am encouraged that the heart of heaven is shining each time you serve in food banks, teach English in the apartments, care for the poor and the brokenhearted, serve in your families and homes, and so many more valuable ministries. I give God thanks for this loving church family.
Come and gather this Sunday, and we will continue our Creation to New Creation series, as we set our sights on Heaven for the next two weeks.
Love you, all.
Tim Kim