Happiness: Our Walk With Christ

1st April 2011

Luke 24:31-32 “And their eyes were opened and they knew Him and He vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way and while He opened to us the scriptures?” “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us…?” This is one of my favourite verses. Each time I hear it I am instantly transported to that scene- I am with them, on that dusty road to Emmaus and my heart is burning too. To me that description of “burning” is unspeakable joy- it is love which has caught us by surprise and has taken our breath away- love which speaks only by its heart and its heat. Oh how I wish it was me- I would sit at our Lords feet, nothing could drag me away from His warmth and gentle wisdom. Perhaps I would be different from them. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing! In this scene we move seamlessly though 2 extreme states which are evoked when we have an encounter with Christ our Saviour: from pain and sorrow to joy and gladness. When we meet Him on the way, we are distracted, self absorbed and filled with the cares of this life. At this time it seems we will never be the same again. Through the eyes of these 2 disciples we experience them trying to make sense of the events of the 3 days that follow His death. At that time they had lost someone- something precious – “a pearl of great price”. But unlike the parable, they didn’t realise the value of the pearl until they lost it. I can imagine their regrets the “if onlys”. They were recounting, retelling and re-treading the ground that they had trod with Him... When He called them to follow Him How they followed Him and while He drew others, taught them, fed them and eased their pain, comforted them and rescued them from death. You can hear them say “He was our all in all”, “We took Him for granted”, “He warned us, He told us that His time would be short and we didn’t listen. You can imagine them saying: ”What is to become of us now our life will never be the same without Him- We are lost and we have not hope He was our Saviour. He introduced us to His father and His kingdom and we were looking forward to our inheritance”. But He always surprises us when He turns up- yes we are never the same again when He meets you on the way. Our heart begins to burn within us and it is hard to explain why. Is this the “full joy” that He has spoken about? Is that the life that He made reference to- the “abundant life?” It is only when the scales are removed from our eyes that we see Him. Once we recognise Him, even when we don’t realise at first- He provides all the answers to the questions that have puzzled us all our lives- He is the meaning of life you see- our alpha and the omega. Like the disciples He spends time with us, He shows interest in us. When He comes across us He in concerned that we are feeling sad and does not leave us until He has transformed us and leaving us with “peace not as the world gives”. When we have this type of encounter with our Lord, He is no longer hidden from us. He is the word that becomes flesh and dwells among us. He speaks truth, peace, love, forgiveness into our hearts and we are never the same. And every time we meet Him we become aware of His presence- when we speak to Him and we know that He is listening; when He comes to “sup” with us – we receive all that He has. We will recognise our encounter with the Saviour because our heart will declare the truth as it burns and our eyes will reveal the truth as soon as the scales fall and this time He does not vanish, because He resides within in us until the end of the age.

© hopecalls.org, 2012 (all rights reserved)

Comment, Answers, Feedback Contact Us or email: contactus@hopecalls.org

What Makes Us Happy?

Happiness defined is the emotional state within ourselves and towards others responsible for giving us positive feelings which range from joy to contentment. Although we all have a unique profile of what makes us “happy”, happiness is a common and easily recognisable experience which contributes to a state of wellbeing and optimism...more

Happiness; a much-sought after state of mind

Happiness defined is the emotional state within ourselves and towards others responsible for giving us positive feelings which range from joy to contentment. Although we all have a unique profile of what makes us “happy”, happiness is a common and easily recognisable experience which contributes to a state of wellbeing and optimism...more

Hopecalls  -Blogs

Love: The Spirit’s Fruit (February 2012)

According to Paul in the verse above one of the functions of the Holy Spirit, is to bear fruit in our lives. The fact that they are “fruit” and not “fruits” suggest that they originate from one source- just like an apple tree can only produce apples and a peach tree, only peaches; the Holy Spirit can only produce “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”...more