There were a few “close” calls. We had tried before to buy our own house. It was always something preventing it. We were outbid, our credit ratio wasn’t high enough, the seller changed their mind. Mostly, I believe God was saying “not yet”. Like the Israelites tested in the wilderness, we were perhaps too eager, too soon. Now it has finally happened! While it may be true that we were kind of backed into a corner – the owner said they were not going to renew the lease – God must have been saying, “now is the time.” Two years ago, also in a house we were renting, the owner priced us out of contention. So we have finally “closed”. That real estate term sounds like an oxymoron. Wouldn’t it be more correct to say “opened”? As in, the door finally opened on our dream? Mom and others have been fond of saying, “when one door closes, another one opens.” Many times in life, that has proven true.

The story of God’s people can attest to that. The travails of Joseph in Genesis 37-50. The aforementioned journey through the desert. The saga of Ruth and Esther. Again with the people Israel, in and out of exile. And, at this end of the ages, Jesus as God in human likeness, sent from heaven to “close the deal”. The great reversal of sin no longer condemning us to being saved by grace, mercy, and love. The door on death slammed shut. But wait: the door of the tomb opened! When all feels lost in our lives, when hopes seem dashed, in comes Jesus to burst open the bonds of sin and death! For millennia, the story seemed stuck. God’s people waited, with patience that was finally rewarded.

It’s not a sales pitch; it’s not real estate terminology. All who believe and accept that the story is literally true, that Christ Jesus died for us that we may have life in him, have been opened into the realm of the kingdom of God. The price? Paid in full by the body and blood of our Savior, done with unconditional love.

 Pastor Art