July 27, 2018

Where Is Your Home?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26

What does home look like to you? Maybe it’s a house in the suburbs. Maybe it’s a condo or apartment in the city. Maybe it’s a house in the country, surrounded by acres and acres of farm land. Or maybe it’s somewhere else entirely.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe He’s the Son of God? Do you believe He came, lived a perfect life, was crucified for our sins, and rose three days later? Do you believe He sits at God’s right hand and intercedes for us? Do you believe you’ll meet Him face to face one day?

Then no matter where you lay your head at night, you aren’t home.

Jesus spoke these words before He called Lazarus out of the tomb. Mary and Martha were beyond distraught. Their brother got sick and died. And Jesus, their teacher and a miraculous healer, delayed coming to save him. They were upset with Him. We get upset with Him sometimes too.

Everything Jesus does focuses us on eternity. It’s not so much about the here and now as it is about leading us to be more like Him, gathering the lost, and ministering to the hurting. He understands as we rarely do that this isn’t our home.

We cling to this world. We fight death like it’s the enemy when, in reality, death is only the beginning. For it is in death that we truly go home to beauty and eternal service to God Almighty.

We are only here for a short while. Our days are numbered, be that number large or small. There is a special purpose for each of us. Finding that purpose, that calling, should be a lifetime pursuit.

As believers, we know that. The trouble comes when we look for grandeur when Jesus says to love your neighbor well. The challenge comes when we don’t like our calling, when it’s scary or when it involves reaching out to people we don’t like.

We are creatures of comfort. We like our earthly dwellings. We want to have fun. We want this life to be easy and without great sorrow or distress. We want to live long and die painlessly, waking into heaven without ever having to get dirty with the service God has called us to.

How would life be different if we focused our attention on Jesus? How would we view our possessions if we understood all that we have is only temporary? How would we change if we truly realized that home is where Jesus is, no matter what our address says today?

Jesus came that we might be free to serve Him. He came to save us from our sins and grant us a passport to an eternal destination of beauty and worship. Don’t lose sight of that. When life threatens to overwhelm you, when your days are filled with stress over earthly things, remember that you’re just passing through.