Never Home Alone - #10285

What this episode covers

I grew up as an only child. My parents took me to most of the places that they went, but I remember one time they left me home by myself. I was home alone. (You know, maybe somebody could make a movie about that someday.) Well, anyway, we lived in this third floor apartment on the south side of Chicago. It was getting very late. I was sitting near the back door waiting and they should have been home by now. I was worried. I remember hearing sirens and I thought, “Oh, no!” Okay, my imagination went crazy; it was taking me all over the place. I was thinking of all the bad things that might have happened to my parents. I was already there and then the sirens came. I was sure the sirens were for my mommy and my daddy, but they weren’t. But the fear I had that night was so great (how about this?) - I still remember it don’t I? I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “Never Home Alone.” Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 8, beginning with verse 37. You probably know this fear of abandonment that I had that night. That's not unique to me, or even to a child. I’m thinking of a friend of ours who struggled her whole life with the fear of abandonment. She was left by her parents a lot because they were in mission work and there were a lot of “goodbyes” and she was always vulnerable to some bad choices because she was always afraid that she’d lose what she loved and what loved her. All right, Romans 8:37, referring to the most dangerous things that could happen to you in your life, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced (boy, here's the best news you might have ever heard) that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future (boy, this has got everything covered!), nor any powers, neither height nor depth (and that's like just in case I've forgotten anything), neither anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” This is where God promises one unloseable relationship. God created us to anchor ourselves to one relationship. The problem is that every other relationship on earth is losable. I think of the night when my wife was almost dying from hepatitis, and we weren’t sure she’d make it. And I knelt by her bed and I said, “Dear God, please spare her.” And I thank Him that He did spare her life. But that night I almost lost the one relationship I thought would never leave me. She said she would never choose to leave and I would never choose to leave her, but you know what? There come those times when the choice is out of our hands. One day that choice did come and now she’s in Heaven and I’m still here. See, you need a relationship you can’t lose, and you can’t take Jesus away. He will not leave you—ever. He is the unloseable one. Any human love I receive, well, that's a welcome bonus, but my identity is supposed to be knowing Jesus. So, do you know Him? See, life is never secure until you belong to Christ. That begins the day you get your sin erased by putting your faith in what Jesus did when he died on the cross for that sin and then you’re in His arms to stay. Nothing in heaven, nothing on earth, nothing in hell can take you away from Him. You’ve had your sins forgiven. The only thing that will keep you out of God’s heaven is gone because you’ve put your trust in the One who died to remove those sins—Jesus, His One and only Son who’s alive because He walked out of His grave. He can walk into your life today. He said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And you decide whether that relationship ever begins, and you decide when it begins. Let it be today. Tell Him, “Jesus, I’m Yours.” You need to get to our website to find there everything you need to know to be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com. The child in all of us hears the sirens. We imagine life without someone who loves us and we fear a future alone, and then Jesus steps in at your invitation and makes this awesome promise, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).

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