Walking Home

I haven’t talked about why I named this blog Walking Home in a while, and this morning I woke up thinking about it so here goes. First of all I am a United Methodist. It is a part of our theology that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (especially me). Methodists believe all our lives the Holy Spirit is on our tales like some great Holy Hound from Heaven. In this capacity the Spirit is like a herding dog; nipping at our heels, and barking at us to go this way or that way. Methodists call this prevenient Grace. It is the grace which calls us home to a relationship with the Lord God Almighty. In the moment we are saved the Holy Spirit justifies us before God, and we are cleansed of all our sin because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Methodists call the removal of all our past sins at the moment of conversion, justifying grace. Now here is where the Methodists differ from our Baptist brothers and sisters. The path to God does not end once we are saved. Certainly our past sins are washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ, but we are not like Christ yet. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism described what comes next as going on to complete sanctification. Through the power of sanctifying grace we seek to become more like Christ in every aspect of our lives, and to maintain the quest for sanctification until the race is finished, and we can finally return home. I am not completely sanctified, and I cannot hope to make it without the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. All of humanity is like the prodigal son, sitting out with the pigs and remembering how much better it was in the Father’s house. The only difference for me is I decided to stop sitting on the fence  watching the pigs. I decided to answer God’s call to walk home.

This blog is about me working out what it means to walk home, and learning to rely on Christ for every aspect of my life. Hopefully what I have written, or doodled or posted links too will help others to find their way as well.