Monday, June 30, 2008
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My father-in-law gave my wife and her sister Grandma and Granddad's little farm house in the mountains, and so we had to do some restoring on that little special spot. And since we were able to be there only occasionally, my wife decided to plant accordingly. She said, "I'm planting perennials." Now I'm sort of horticulturally challenged, so my wife had to explain a little further. See, I grew up a city boy, and cement doesn't grow much of anything, as you know. As I'm beginning to understand better now, you can actually plant annuals or perennials. Annuals will bloom for a little while - let's say, geraniums - and then they'll be gone. Unless you replant geraniums next year, which is extra work, and hard to do when you're not there. Nope. We need perennials. So my wife planted things like crepe myrtle (that's actually the name of a plant, not some long-lost aunt), she planted azaleas, she planted honeysuckle. Now as you might guess from their name, those perennials are not going to die on you; the perennials will always be there for you! And that's what we need!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Beauty of a Perennial."
In every garden or yard, there are always going to be those things that bloom for a little while and then they're gone. But it's nice to know there's something perennial, too, not just in your yard but in your life. Our life scrapbook is filled with relationships that were beautiful for a while and then were gone. Experiences, accomplishments that were enjoyable for a season and then they were gone or no longer satisfying. It's just part of life. There's a lot of temporary.
But the longer we live, the more we get tired of temporary and the more we want something perennial - something, or someone we know will always be there for us. If you find yourself with a restless heart at this point in your life, there's a very good reason. It's explained in our word for today from the Word of God, Ecclesiastes 3:11. It says, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." Boy, those nine words explain so much of our search for peace and satisfaction!
God has created you and me with this vacancy inside that can only be filled with something eternal; something that has no ending. And that's why that hole in your heart has never really gone away. Friendships end, romances end, even marriages, by death or divorce end. And every pleasure ends; every experience ends. And our heart gets tired of saying again, "It's over." God made you for something perennial - something that's never over!
And obviously, only Someone eternal can fill the eternity hole in your heart. Only God can. The Bible introduces us to a woman Jesus met at a well one day; a woman who had searched for something lasting in a series of relationships with men. But nothing lasted; nothing satisfied. Actually, no earth-relationship can ever satisfy this eternity-appetite in your heart. Jesus used the woman's daily trips to this well as an illustration of her elusive search for satisfying love.
He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." Those words might describe exactly how you felt in your heart so many times - thirsty again. "But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water, welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). There is that word eternal. Jesus says, "If you will open your heart to Me, I will come in and be the eternal relationship your heart has been looking for so long."
He had to die to make that possible. It's sin - our running of our own life - that has cut us off from the God who made us. But Jesus' death on the cross paid for that sin and made possible an unloseable relationship with God.
The hole in your heart was made for Jesus. Why don't you let today be the day when you finally begin the one relationship that will always, always be there for you. Tell Him you want Him to be your personal Savior. If you want to belong to Jesus Christ, let me invite you to do what many other people have done. That is to go to our website. You'll find a lot of help there in getting started with Him. It's YoursForLife.net.
You've seen enough of life's temporary; the things that are there for a while and then they're gone. You're about to walk into the perennial, that forever love-relationship with Jesus Christ that is never over.