Home: a place of residence or refuge. For believers, home may mean not only the place we live while here on earth, the physical place as in “Home is where you hang your hat”, but Heaven, our end place with Jesus, as in “Home is where the heart is”. The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can be as we are, wearing only one face and no facades. i think everyone is looking for home in some way or another, it is a quiet ache or persistent longing that tugs at even the hardest of hearts … and everyone has an idea of “home” that is unique to them. For some it may be sitting on a porch swing, swaying and creaking back and forth under summer stars, yet for others it is among kind friends and smiling faces, the smell of familiar bread, a laugh that fits just right. As we search for “home” we weave through memories, chasing belonging and connecting. i think these days there are many who hope for “home” but don’t find “home” nor do they know how. Maybe it’s the last place they felt safe, but i must add, in this world real, bonafide safety is fleeting and getting harder to hold.
i think we’re searching for “home” even when we don’t know we’re searching for “home”, it can seem endless and daunting, our restless heart not quite finding where we fit or belong, you know, that place where we connect. Belonging and connecting are two essential attributes for identifying “home”. How do you know when you’re home? In this earthly life we’re told home is a place which feels right – cozy, and a place of our own. Friends, to me, where ever Jesus is, there is home, and if we think we’re in Heaven and Jesus isn’t there, it is hell. It seems so many are looking for “home” and don’t know it. Some say they have found their home, a heaven of their own making. Again, i say if you think you’ve found Heaven and God isn’t there, it must be hell. God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a long, lonely walk.
In a song by a well known artist, some of the lyrics are “Traveling at night, The headlights were bright. But soon the sun came through the trees. Around the next bend, The flowers will send The sweet smell of home in the breeze”, and “Home, Sings me of sweet things. Life there has it’s own wings.”. Is the idea of “home” one of peace to you? Should be. If home to you is a terrifying thought, i suggest it’s not really your home. For many, we love the IDEA of home, but we’ve realized with hand wringing grief, the place we really live will never be that place.
i suppose a more basic question should be, Are you at peace? Is home a place of refuge and rest, a place where you can be restored and recharged? Your sanctuary? Or is home a place of conflict and contention? Where is home to you? And if you don’t have one, imagine, what home would look like?
i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. It’s a beautiful evening and the stars are out in all their splendor.
Imagine with me a moment. Get comfortable, breath in and out slowly and let your mind clear. See this: It’s evening. You’re on a familiar road which stretches ahead, the road hums beneath the tires, each mile marker a heartbeat closer to home. You ride past an occasional house with a warm interior glow here and there — trees and signs are a blur. Imagine getting closer, streetlights are coming more often, seeming to guide the way with an almost ghostly light. Just follow the light home. Anticipation builds — the comfort, warmth, and loved ones wait just beyond the bend. The journey’s end promises rest, a soft bed, and the sweet relief of being where you belong. Almost there.
The words, “almost home” brings vivid memories to mind for me. After being gone on one particular mission trip, for some reason, though short, it was the one which really pulled at my heart more than any others. My heart literally ached for home. After 21 days, 18 restaurants, 31 remote villages with untold amounts of prayer and all the wonderful God-stories, after all the taxi’s, the busses, and the miles and miles of walking, i was almost home.
The plane bounced incessantly over the next 24 hours. It seemed the sun was almost where i last saw it when we took off. People slept with the shades pulled low, tired people, restless people, all trying to get comfortable in a very narrow space. The lady next to me read 2 books, slept some more and then read a third book. A little hole over my head blew cool air; food and snacks came and went. Yet through all that, my mind was thoughts like — “I’m almost home. My heart aches for home. i just want to go home.”
Man, there’s no place like our house, my shalom place, past the barns, past the fields, up on the front porch and in the old door. Ahhhh … wow, i’m home. The couch is softer, the bed is sweeter, the shower runs just the way i like it, the smell is intoxicating, the embraces are more tender, oh, and the loved ones, smiling, hugging, affectionate. i’m so glad to be home. From property line to property line, from fence to fence, that is my Shalom place, the Kingdom of Heaven field office where we live. A place of divine appointment, under the complete protection of God Himself. A place of peace, even in the midst of terrible turmoil around me, this is my refuge. Do you have a Shalom place, a place of belonging and connecting?
As a little sidebar, i think it’s important to speak about two very valuable attributes of the idea of home: belonging and connecting. They are not the same. Belonging and connecting, though intertwined like two strings woven together, are each distinct. Belonging is the state of being part of a group, possibly an identity where we may hopefully get acceptance, as seen in biblical communities like the early church, Acts 2:42-47. Connecting, however, requires the consistent employment of a dreaded word in our society today: Honesty. Connecting requires active engagement and conversation, and not just one conversation like it’s one-and-done. That’s not connecting, that’s more like a skipping stone. Connecting is more the idea of emotional bonds through shared experiences like in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Anybody can belong to a family of some sort, or a church, or a local club yet feel completely disconnected, present but emotionally isolated, missing intimate ties but we don’t typically know that’s what is missing. For example, the Israelites belonged to God’s covenant but often felt distant from Him. Psalm 137:1-6, they belonged to God but felt far from Him and disconnected. Or how about in Luke 15, when the younger brother came to himself and returned home, he and the father went in the house to rejoice and left the angry, smoldering older brother out in the front yard mumbling to himself. The older brother was “of the family”, he had belonging, but he was not “in the house”, he didn’t connect. People, in general, who do NOT belong and/or connect in some fashion are the saddest, loneliest, most broken people ever and they wander like ghosts on the face of the earth, hopeless and homeless. Friends, it’s not necessary. God has a better idea.
True connection, unlike passive belonging, demands intentional effort to build relationships, fulfilling our heart’s longing for closeness. Belonging and connecting is not passively gained. Ok, that’s enough about belonging and connecting….
Being at home where we live is wonderful. If I can feel so welcomed and so wanted in an imperfect world, through an imperfect family, in an imperfect house, what must heaven be like — a perfect kingdom, through a perfect Father, in a perfect dwelling.
In John 14:1-4 Jesus was speaking of home, and then in verses 26-27 Jesus made sure to leave them with some encouragement until they got home, He said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Like the disciples, there are some things about our heavenly home you and I really need to know, starting with the truth that our Heavenly Home Is Real.
Hebrews 11:10 speaks of Abraham who, “… was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” i believe that if Abraham was looking forward to it he was certainly imagining and dreaming about it before he was looking forward to his future destination. Where did he get those ideas? Imagining was before, and looking forward to something means he held it as the truth. His ideas and imaginations were not about where he was, past tense, but where he was going to be, with the verb “to be” pointing to his existence, his coming into being or becoming, his identity or abiding, and his state of being with God. The very powerful yet simple little verb “to be”, as expressed in the phrase “looking forward to”, linked him to his very essence, the roles he may play and the conditions he will live and breath in. Abraham’s descendants were also thinking about home as seen in Hebrews 11:15-16, “If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they desired, and were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Going back to where they came from was not even in their thinking, but where they were going to was the object of all their considerations. To “long for” or “desire” in this case means to stretch or reach for, as in a heartfelt yearning and being hopeful. The word itself, “desire” or “long for”, brings with it the sense of someone climbing a mountain, and the closer they get to the top, the more hope of attaining a goal lifts their hearts. So, in Heb11:16, to say, “they longed for a better country,” is to say that they had a glimpse of where God was taking them, they had a vision enough of the top of the mountain that they were excited about attaining to their goal. In Exodus 16:3 the Israelites longed for the Promised Land, Psalm 137:5-6 the Psalmist was homesick for Jerusalem. Home.
As believers, our eyes are set towards home with Jesus. Hebrews 13:14, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come”, and how about 2 Peter 3:13, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
Are you longing for, looking forward to, looking for “home”? i read a quote by a sorta famous fellow who said, “America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home.” And that is “home” as in more than just a house, but a place where family lives, where familiar pictures are hung, and the place of our personal things and memories. Home not only includes all that but can also include familiar geography, streets and stores, faces of shop owners and weekly workman and women we grew up knowing. Home.
i was thinking this morning during my prayer time, so much of the American home idealogy is under incredible attack. We say a truth …our nation needs to be on track with God, but it starts in a much smaller and unique environment, our homes. If our homes and families are not on track with God, then hell has done it’s job and disrupted us at our core. Home is truly where our heart is, it’s where our treasure is, and, again to reiterate, if home is a shambles and God is not there, all i can conclude is, what we call Heaven must be hell. If in our homes we are always at odds with our spouse over power, money, or sex (and it seems it is truly always one or the other or any combination there of), if we’re always at odds, our home, sweet home, comfortable sacred home, our sanctuary is at war with itself, and we all understand this, that no nation divided against itself can stand. Selah!
Home – Through the Hebrew we get a word picture of home. It is seen through the idea of a dwelling place, a house, but with family and community attached to it, even including those who are socially bound together under one roof. That says to me a it’s a dwelling place with others of whom we relate to. Home, where we eat and relax and we can hopefully, be who we are with as few facades as possible.
In light of that, we can easily conclude that at least 50% of homes in America are not a refuge or a sanctuary, in fact it would seem they are chaotic and conflicted. If the divorce rate is at least 50%, and that is truly much too low, then the idea of home has been, and is being sabotaged at least 50% of the time. Hell is striking at the heart of mankind by breeding destruction in the very center of our sanctuary, our individual homes. At that rate, i’d say there are far, far more people who are homeless in their heart and mind than we can imagine. They aren’t belonging, they don’t connect, and their friends seem like no friends at all. Don’t you know? Belonging and connection are fundamental to all our well-being, it’s where we find shared purpose. i like that, “shared purpose”. Belonging and connecting within our community was God’s idea and design, and His purpose was for us to have support, accountability, transparency without fear of reprisal for merely being ourselves, and being grounded with love as our bond, like in John 13:34-35. We are not only made in God’s image, but His image AND reflection, similar to God inside and out, and it’s always personal and relational.
This is important so listen: Home isn’t the building but who inhabits the building. Having a dwelling place is one thing, but having a home is another. Edward Whiting said “You can no more measure a home by inches, or weigh it by ounces, than you can set up the boundaries of a summer breeze, or calculate the fragrance of a rose. Home is the love which is in it.”
i think Mr. Whiting was on to something there. If home is measured by the love which is in it, then Jesus and Heaven are obviously the highest choice. The Love of God exceeds and excels beyond our wildest imagination. God Himself and His house are our destination, not just because it is a place to live, but because of who lives there.
If Heaven wasn’t a “place” Jesus wouldn’t have said so in John 14:3. Heaven and our home are not a “spiritual condition” or a “state of being” but a place where Jesus is. God has created us to take pleasure in His companionship, and in each other’s. Home isn’t a solitary existence, there are others in Heaven, or at Home, and we can relate to that great cloud of witnesses. It is a family. All things will be right at home with Jesus – no abortion clinics or mental hospitals, no missing children, no rape, no murder, no drug addictions, no swindlers, no robberies, no worry, depression, illness, failure, or miscommunications. No hidden agendas, no politics or backroom deals, no secret ambitions, plots, hatred, or condescension. Can you imagine sitting and eating with God Almighty, mealtimes full of stories, laughing, singing, maybe a game of touch football in the backyard sometimes. Can you imagine such happiness without fear of being judged or measured, no lust or jealousy, no inappropriateness or hurt feelings? Can you imagine that? My heart aches for home, how about you?
One woman wrote, “It’s been easy for me through the years to find fault in the house we’ve lived in for the past eleven years. Our abode is well over 100 years old. That means it has a lot of “character” right? Yes. If by “character” you mean that the toilets don’t flush well, the basement looks like the Adam’s Family lives there, and the dust from the Dirty Thirties is still stuck in crevices around each of our fifty drafty windows. That’s how I look at my house when I have a self-focused perspective. The world tells me I need new, shiny, perfect, better, best, improved, highest quality, and spotless.”
“Pinterest tells me I need my home and the contents therein to look as though they climbed out of a magazine – completely unique, yet altogether trendy (how it can be trendy and unique at the same time is beyond me). We must have the right color scheme, a lovely furniture arrangement all set up in a proper pose like movie props, and classy wall decor. Otherwise, we must feel guilty, deprived, and less than. What if we just decided to be thankful instead? i am thankful for where i live, and infinitely grateful to God for where i shall live. We can’t allow ourselves to judge where we will be by where we are, for no man can hold a candle to the things God has prepared for those who love Him.
The Lord is calling us to look above our view of where we live to see a greater vision, one which He has made for us beyond this world of brick and mortar, beyond the have and have not’s to see Jesus. Friends, if there is vision then there is provision, and if there is vision and provision, there is most certainly preparation. Let us cease to obsessively focus on where we are but begin to look to where we are going.
Jonathan Edwards wrote of Heaven: “No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those whom they love, or that their love is not fully and fondly returned. There shall be no such thing as flattery or insincerity in Heaven, but there perfect sincerity shall reign through all in all. Everyone will be just what they seem to be, and they’ll really have all the love that they seem to have. It will not be as in this world, where comparatively few things are what they seem to be, and where professions are often made lightly and without meaning. But there, every expression of love shall come from the bottom of the heart, and all that is professed shall be real and truly felt.”
Once at home in Heaven, the hungry will fill up, those who weep will laugh, and those who suffer tragedy will be compensated the victory.
i realize this is a lot of very positive and wonderful stuff about something that isn’t exactly in the here and now. And i realize most of us might be far more interested in things we can do in the now to help our present circumstances or situations, BUT, in putting the idea of home on the table and talking about being at home with Jesus, eating, walking, and talking with God, family, friends, and all the participants of the entire salvation message from beginning to end, it generates hope, the anticipation of becoming and overcoming, and hope is in very short supply in our world.
Revelation 21:3-5 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.””
Those are the words of Jesus and we can take it to the bank. Live everyday in light of them. Let me encourage you to make every choice in light of God’s promises. C.S. Lewis wrote, “A man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged. A man who gives sustained thought to God and his future Home in Heaven, does not remain the same. He smells the banquet being prepared for him and he’ll never be the same, in Jesus Name.
Think about it.
Randy Alcorn wrote in his book titled “Heaven”, “We were all made for a person and a place. Jesus is that person. Heaven is that place.”
If you know Jesus, i’ll be with you in that resurrected world. With the Lord we love and with the friends we cherish, we’ll embark together on the ultimate adventure, in a spectacular new universe awaiting our exploration and dominion. Jesus will be the center of all things, and joy will be the air we breathe, and right when we think it all couldn’t get any better, it will!
Thank you for joining me here at Outposts for cool jazz and contemplative conversation! i’m Social Porter and this production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, 22 Skidoo Boots and Shoes on 3rd and main, Tempo Music, Kevin, Tommy, and Perry of the Mebane Freedom League, Area 22 Guitars, Sisters Coffee, and Trinity Bakers, the sweet spot on main street where there’s always something good in the oven.
Come on home with Jesus, there’s a party going on for eternity and we ought not to miss eating, dancing, and talking with the King of the Universe!
Be strong and courageous, drive carefully, and i’ll see you at home where God makes all things new. Amen.