Home

Any time I go on a trip, I always look forward to returning. Although I enjoy my time away, I look forward to going back to the place I call home. I may see dazzling sights and behold beautiful sights of God’s creation. I most likely was able to eat some delicious and unique food. Sometimes, I get the opportunity to meet and interact with new people. I usually have a great time and enjoy any chance I am fortunate enough to go on a “journey” of any sort. But this reality does not negate my longing for home. 

Though the landmarks may be stunning, to me, they pale in comparison to the lush green woods surrounding my house and the music of the birds singing in the tall trees above. The food away may be great, but even more, I delight in the comfort of a home-cooked meal with my family gathered around our kitchen table. Although I see many different people when I travel, I do not love them the way I love my family and friends and want to spend time with them. Traveling is great, but in my humble opinion, home is greater. 

Such an attitude, I believe, is comparable to the life of a Christian. We experience joys and pleasures in life. We enjoy the gifts God has given us: music, friendship, the array of colors in a sunrise, the bliss and wonder of childhood. But we enjoy even the most joy-filled gifts knowing that they will not satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. Experiences and people cannot do this; God alone can satisfy. 

Our temporary stay here on earth is saturated in a longing for home. We are but pilgrims, strangers, or exiles here. As Christians, we are members of another Kingdom. We are citizens of Heaven, our true, eternal home. This is why we can only experience joy and peace in Jesus. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 

So now, as we live, we live with this knowledge in mind. We live knowing that we were made for another place. We were made to know and dwell in God. So we experience Him on earth, walking with Him daily as we look forward to the day when “the dwelling place of God [will be] with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3). 

C.S. Lewis helped shine a light on this idea. He famously wrote in Mere Christianity, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” Furthermore, in his final installment of Narnia, The Last Battle, Aslan—who is Christ in the series—said this when the characters entered the “True Narnia” of eternal life: “The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

Enjoy life, but remember that all the joys we experience are but shadows of the true joy. These glimpses of Heaven are not meant to fulfill us but to create an insatiable longing for our real home where we will be finally and fully content.