A Hot Cup of Joe and a Pure Heart!

I love coffee, but only hot coffee. You won't see me dawdling over my “Joe” for hours because hot is the only way I like it. In fact I am not one who waves the waitress over to for a “warm up” because when she mixes the not-so-hot with hot, I still have not-so-hot! I have to remove everything from my cup so that what goes into my cup is “pure” hot coffee.

I thought of this today as I read from the Psalms.

Psalm 51:10 reads;

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

When we ask God to give us a “pure heart” we have to empty ourselves of all things that are not pure. We have to get rid of an unforgiving spirit, prejudice and anything not pleasing to God. Just like my coffee, the old has to be removed so that not even a loose “ground” of complacency can remain. Unless we are willing to get rid of the “lukewarm” our cup cannot be refreshed.

Now, how do we do that, you might ask? Not alone my friend, we need God to rid us of these things. Ask the creator of a pure heart to take them away to make room for His spirit. Do you need to forgive? Ask God! Are you struggling with prejudice or unholy thoughts or actions? Bring these to God! Without a pure heart He cannot renew in me a steadfast spirit of which we all desire as we walk through this life.

A pure heart is not a lukewarm heart but a steadfast heart! A heart filled up with all that is pure is the way that God intended, so pour out the “coffee grounds” of your heart and start afresh with an empty cup ready to be renewed.

I think a hot cup of Joe is calling my name!

The Road Home

What does “Home” mean to you? Does it mean the place where your family waits for you, or that familiar place that you long for, at days end? Does it mean that place where you grew up, that home where loved ones await your visit? Possibly it means “heaven” our ultimate destination at life's end. More than likely it means all of these things to most of us.

Did you ever think of home as the place you started out from and the person you started out as? How far some of us have come from where we started. Hopefully, most of us have matured as we have ventured from the threshold of our childhood home but have you ever longed to go back to the simplicity and innocence of home? How about going back to the real “you” not the “you”, you have groomed to please others?

Many times we to go back home spiritually? That place of awe and wonder, you had as a brand new believer, back before life had squeezed the joy from your soul. Maybe you need to go back to a place of trusting and hope. God wants you to come home!

I think God put the love of home in our heart for a reason. It was not an accident that when Jesus was about to leave this earth for heaven, he said “There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” Regardless of popular sayings, Jesus did not say “there is room for you on the Father's cloud” or “my Father's Universe”, He knew that just the word “home” strikes a chord in us all.

I thought of all these things as I hung a new picture that we bought from a local artist entitled “Road Home”. It is a scene that leads down a winding road, next to an old fence. At the end of this road there is a big welcoming house. I wonder who waits in the house for the weary traveler. Is there a grand meal prepared for this one who has come home? Is there a special room prepared for this one who has made it down that winding road?

I think of that special room that Jesus is preparing just for you and me in our Father's Home! I can almost see the light in the window that welcomes me home!