LightGrams
March 4, 2021
Volume 25, Number 9
Teresa Ferrin works at a thrift store in Phoenix, Arizona. While working her shift earlier this year, a fellow worker brought in a piece of cardboard with military medals attached. Among the medals was a Purple Heart, given to women and men of the U.S. Military who are wounded in action. It’s a high honor, though no one enlists with the hope of earning one.
Ferrin found a name engraved on the back of this Purple Heart, Erik Karl Blauberg, a veteran of the Korean War who died in 1988. She found his grave and eventually contacted a daughter who lives in Florida. The medals were shipped to the daughter, who said that these were the only items she had from her father.
In an amazing coincidence, Ferrin realized that her own father had been in Korea at the very time Mr. Blauberg was there. Blauberg’s daughter labels the finding of the medals and their return to her as “divine intervention”. She is so glad to have them.
My father was a veteran of World War 2, and he also earned a Purple Heart during his time of service. I know how special that honor is, and we have kept it in the family through the years. If it ever goes missing I would certainly want to have it returned.
Along the way in my early years my heart went missing. I’m speaking now of my spiritual heart, something that rightfully belongs to God. At various times, however, sin allured me into transgressing God’s laws, and I was alienated from Him by those sins. That’s the word used in Colossians 1:21: “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works …” My sins caused me to become lost.
To be separated from God by sin is a dangerous condition. Isaiah 59:1,2 helps us to comprehend the peril involved: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” In such a condition where would I turn for help in life’s crises?
Let’s go back to Colossians 1 and finish Paul’s thought: “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now [Christ] has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:21,22). Our hearts, which were lost to God because of our sins, can be reunited with Him by Jesus’ atoning work.
When our hearts are reconciled to God, we have this wonderful assurance: “… that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17). When my faith submits to Christ, as Galatians 3:26,27 teaches, then my heart is reunited with my loving Father!
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2021, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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