“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
~John 14:23 (ESV)
Home is a tricky thing for overseas workers. As member care providers who walk with them, it can be a challenge for us as well.
“What makes a place home?” “Where do I fit?” “What does home mean when things are constantly changing?”
Something tells me we’re not the only ones asking these questions—especially during the holidays.
Part of the answer that our faith provides is that we are in fact wanderers on this earth. The more the Kingdom of Heaven is a reality in our hearts and minds, the less we can actually be “at home” in this world. We live for the “city that is to come” and for the place that is being prepared for us.
But a few weeks ago the verse quoted above came to me in such a fresh way that I'm finding myself rethinking many of these assumptions about home.
I was praying and very discouraged. The concerns of our work and some troubling circumstances weighed heavily on me. Although I was trying to maintain an eternal perspective and focus on higher things, the pressing cares of the moment kept dragging me down.
Finally, frustrated, I gave up, telling God, “I just can’t reach You today. I'm too tired to get up there to see things from Your vantage point.”
And that’s when I heard Him say, “No problem. We'll come to you.” Gently He brought the verse in John to my mind. For those who love Him, the Father, Son, and Spirit will come down and do life with us. They will abide with us. Here. Now. Home.
Could it be that I don’t have to wait any longer to start living in my eternal home? That true Home has already come to me, dwells in me, walks with me? That no matter where I go I am celebrated, sheltered, and surrounded by Those who love me best?
Every heart aches for a place where it is known, loved, and accepted. In short, every heart aches for home. And in the loving mercy of the great Three-and-One, Home has come to us.
written by Deborah Wise
Deborah and Steve joined Barnabas International in 2014 after serving for 13 years as church planters in Cambodia. They have a heart to walk with those in overseas ministry, and support the member care community. They have helped with the PTM planning committee for three years.