Come Home!

God showed me a picture last night of the old stone farm house where my brothers and I grew up. From what I remember of this house, it was romantic in stature, sat atop a hill, and it was surrounded by fields. For seven years of my life, my brothers and I used to go out far from the house and play, making forts and sandcastles by the creek. Since we played so far from home, my mom would at times call us for dinner by the use of a "dinner bell" which was a metal triangle with a small metal bar. By beating this small bar against the triangle, my brother and I would hear that is was time to come home. So in this picture I saw the "dinner bell" calling us home. I wondered what this meant, and almost immediately, I thought of Matthew 22. In Matthew 22, Jesus gives the parable about the wedding banquet being ready, and how it was time to come and feast. This was the end of the picture, and I was left with an impression of what God is saying. Perhaps, God is saying that now is the hour to come home, and see that the Lord is good. Perhaps He is saying, that is now time to go out to the crossroads, and bring home those who have gone far away and need to come near to God. And I also offer to you, that perhaps this is the time to stop wasting our time on things that don't satisfy, but instead waste our time on Jesus. Ring the Dinner Bell!!! It's time to come home! Isaiah 55 says it like this: 1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, Isaiah 55: 1-3 And in Matthew Jesus explains it like this: 1AND AGAIN Jesus spoke to them in parables (comparisons, stories used to illustrate and explain), saying, 2The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son 3And sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they refused to come. 4Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my banquet; my bullocks and my fat calves are killed, and everything is prepared; come to the wedding feast. 5But they were not concerned and paid no attention [they ignored and made light of the summons, treating it with contempt] and they went away--one to his farm, another to his business, 6While the others seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and put them to death. 7[Hearing this] the king was infuriated; and he sent his soldiers and put those murderers to death and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, The wedding [feast] is prepared, but those invited were not worthy. 9So go to the thoroughfares where they leave the city [where the main roads and those from the country end] and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. 10And those servants went out on the crossroads and got together as many as they found, both bad and good, so [the room in which] the wedding feast [was held] was filled with guests. Matthew 22:1-10------------- So whether you are far from God or close to him, it is time to come near again!...It's time to come home! The banquet He has prepared is ready! Come Home!!!