{"id":77,"date":"2010-07-09T20:39:33","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T20:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihsteps.com\/wordpress\/?p=77"},"modified":"2010-07-09T20:39:33","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T20:39:33","slug":"a-spiritual-lesson-from-cheers-by-tammy-maseberg-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/?p=77","title":{"rendered":"“A Spiritual Lesson from Cheers?” by Tammy Maseberg, July 9, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they\u2019re always glad you came. You want to be where you can see, our troubles are all the same. You want to be where everybody knows your name.\u201d~~~~ Lyrics from \u201cCheers\u201d theme song<\/em><\/p>\n

You may remember the above excerpt from the popular sitcom that ran from September 1982 to May 1993. Think about those words for a minute. Don\u2019t we all want a place we can go where the people are glad to see us? We all desire to belong somewhere to something.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When one of the patrons walked into Cheers, everyone would shout, \u201cNorm!\u201d Can\u2019t you see Jesus receiving someone into heaven that way? I can envision Him standing there with open arms, saying, \u201cTammy! I\u2019m so glad to see you. We\u2019ve been waiting for you!\u201d My heart fills with joy to think about the welcome we will be greeted with when we get to heaven. And, unlike the song, we won\u2019t be worrying about all the troubles\u2014they will no longer exist.<\/p>\n

Even though this show was set in a bar, I think it unknowingly offered spiritual insight into how we feel as humans. Why do some people navigate to gangs or bars? Why do we join bowling leagues and churches? I think it\u2019s because we all want a place that we can go and feel like we are valued and connected. We like to walk into a group of people and see them recognize our face.<\/p>\n

The good news is this: unconditional love and acceptance isn\u2019t just for heaven. We can experience it now, while still here on this earth. If Jesus is our Savior, we belong to Him. God made us to desire fellowship with Him and with others. I believe He wants us to make the church a place where people can go and be loved and accepted just for who they are. When people walk in the door, wouldn\u2019t it be awesome if they were greeted with a \u201cMary!\u201d or \u201cJoe! We\u2019re so glad you are here.\u201d Won\u2019t they be much more likely to come to Jesus or come back to that church if they are welcomed that way?<\/p>\n

God is the only one who can be our constant companion, the One who will never, ever leave us or forsake us. He knows everything about each one of us and loves us more than anyone ever could. 1<\/sup>\u201cO LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2<\/sup>You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3<\/sup>You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.\u201d (Psalm 139:1-3, NAS) <\/em>He will always be glad that I came into His presence, and He will always know my name. I don\u2019t ever have to worry if I will fit into His \u201csocial circle\u201d or not. Everyone\u2014I mean everyone\u2014is welcome in God\u2019s group. \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d (John 3:16, NLT) <\/em>And, He is the only One who can truly fill that longing for complete acceptance and perfect love. Trust Him to fulfill your every need.<\/p>\n

\u00a92010 Tammy Maseberg All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u201cSometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they\u2019re always glad you came. You want to be where you can see, our troubles are all the same. You want to be where everybody knows your name.\u201d~~~~ Lyrics from \u201cCheers\u201d theme song You may remember the above excerpt from the popular sitcom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-word-from-tammy-maseberg","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}