Greetings brethren and welcome back home!

Finally back

Our family had a truly enjoyable Feast this year, and I hope yours did as well.  But there's something nice about being back home again. Sometimes it's the physical things like our own bed and home cooked meals.  But of course, it goes far beyond that. We now have much good spiritual food from the Feast of Tabernacles that we can take and put into practice in our own homes!

The challenge

It's easy to be positive about the things we learned while at the Feast while they are fresh in our minds.  No doubt, you probably have a few spiritual 'tips and tricks' you're ready to try out right away! But in a couple of weeks, the Feast will seem long it was forever ago, and that there's an eternity until the next one.  It's easy to get caught up in the winter doldrums and start to let our enthusiasm fade.

The only way to combat this is to resolve it in our own hearts to stay enthusiastic about God's word at all times.  Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) tells us, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"  Paul is giving some general encouragement and instruction for Christian living in this section of scripture and he starts it with an admonition to be enthusiastic.  The International Standard Version says it this way, "Keep on rejoicing in the Lord at all times. I will say it again: Keep on rejoicing!"

Keep on keepin' on

Certainly, rejoicing at the Feast is easy, since we aren't weighed down with such worries as bills, deadlines at work or homework.  But when we get back home, all those things all too easily become the norm. While we certainly are beholden to such obligations, emotionally and spiritually speaking, we should not let the joy over the things God has shown us subside for any reason!

Galatians 6:9 (NLT) tells us this, "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."  Let's make it our collective goal to not grow weary of being enthusiastic over the joys of the Kingdom of God!