Classic re-post from 2009
I duck my head into the boys room most mornings before I get prepared for the day. Their sleeping room and my dressing room are on the same level. Wesley’s bed is often empty. He is not in his bed. He likes to sleep on the floor. He has a wonderful bed with a nice mattress and box springs. He has nice flannel sheets on his bed, but he prefers the floor.
Maybe you wonder why. It is because communion is sweeter than comfort. Relationships are more important than things.
Chuck went away for a year to influence young teens in Door County, Wisconsin. It was a good experience for him in many ways. He gathered a large group of young people—regularly eighty young people met weekly in the small church up on the rocky peninsula that juts out into Western Lake Michigan.
Chuk was befriending and influencing many young men but he couldn’t get his own brothers off his mind. He came home and now he sleeps in the next room. God gave Chuk another church. This one was remarkably close to home, just across a bridge to Grosse Ile in the Detroit River. He now gathers young people at Riverpoint Church on Grosse Ile and he lives at home and spends hours with his brothers.
Wes sleeps on Chuk’s floor. They like to be close. Wes would rather be near him at night than be comfortable.
This all came to my heart this week when I was doing some deep thinking and Scripture searching on the power of communion with Christ to deter sin in my life. It has been my own experience that there are difficult besetting sins that darken my spirit, but communion with Jesus—fellowship with Jesus is the most powerful way to drive them from my life.
Jesus promised that if we would walk away from sin we would enjoy special fellowship with Him. If we know the sweetness of fellowship with him we will not find sin attractive. To lure us away from the guilty pleasures of the world he offers us his presence. There is no greater joy than the joy of just being with Him.
2 Corinthians 6:14-19 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
February 8, 2010
I like this one a lot.
Brother Ken, Your blog posts are a genuine blessing to me. I love hearing about your family, your ministry, and getting a glimpse into how the Lord relates to you and your family. Your photography (and that of your lovely wife) is beautiful and always tasteful. I especially enjoyed the story, some time ago now, about how your wife sought you out on a morning when you had to leave the house early without breakfast. She knew to look for you in a bookstore, and then you enjoyed lunch with her. You have a very readable style of writing that invites people in and does not push them away. Thank you for having a blog. The Lord blesses me through your posts.
ALWAYS A BLESSING
Thank you for this beautiful post. It spoke to my heart.