Waiting and Longing

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…

Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing… Luke 4:18-21

These words of Jesus’ sent shock waves through the temple. He was telling them that He was the One they had been waiting for, the long-awaited Messiah.

We, too, wait and long. We long for peace and home and joy. We wait, thinking that we can somehow “get there” if just one more piece will fall into place.

And, at no time do we experience that longing more than at Christmastime.

Sometimes it happens because of a life event, or sometimes it is an understanding that occurs over the course of many years, but one day we realize that we are home. What’s more, we have been home during all of the years we have believed.

Christ (has made) His home in our hearts. (Ephesians 3:17)

Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, is home.