Many of us love to travel. It’s fun and often exciting to discover, visit, and explore new places. But how many of us would say that we truly love to stay in hotels or motels? I’m guessing that, if you’re like me, a hotel room is not your favorite place to stay. Why? The hotel room may be nice, and it may be quite comfortable, but it’s not home. The same is true for staying with friends or family. While we love catching up with friends and spending time with family, their homes are not ours and, as the words to the song “Home, Sweet Home” say, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
It is said that home is where the heart is. But here’s the thing. We may love our homes, and we may love the towns and the cities that we live in. We may be grateful to God for providing these homes, as of course, we should be. But, as followers of Christ, our earthly homes are not where our hearts should be because this world is not our real home. Rather, our real home is in heaven, in our heavenly Father’s house. In fact, Jesus promised that He was going ahead of us in order to prepare a place for us there (John 14:2). And better yet, Jesus promised that He will one day return and personally escort us to our home, a place where we can be with Him (John 14:3).
Until that time, we live in our earthly homes. But although we are in the world, we must not be of the world. Jesus was not of this world and, as His followers, neither are we (John 17:16). When we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, that He is the Son of God, then Jesus abides in us (1 John 4:15) and if He abides in us, then we are not of this world. That is why it is important that we not love this world or the things of this world. In fact, if we love the world, then the love of our heavenly Father is not in us (1 John 2:15). Someday the world will pass away but those of us who love God and do His will shall live forever in the home Jesus has prepared (1 John 2:17).
While we wait for Jesus to bring us into our real home, we must be careful not to conform to the world. Rather, by allowing our hearts and minds to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, we should be transformed so that we are fully able to discern God’s perfect will for us (Romans 12:2). My prayer for all of us is that, while we live in this world, we live lives that are not of this world and that we will all be able to truly say, “There’s no place like home!”
A Worshiper's Journal 