When I was 5 years old, my family moved into the house where my parents still live. Since my childhood, this house has been a refuge for me. This was the place where I first began studying theology, where I first told my wife I loved her, where I take my kids on summer vacations to swim and play, where my beloved parents live. I’ve had thousands of meals, laughs, and good memories there. I love this place. It’s a part of who I am.
Despite these wonderful experiences, one day my parents will sell their house. They will become too old to care for it. I won’t live there. My calling is elsewhere. My enjoyment of this house is only temporary. It will come to an end. Someday another family will call it “home.” They, not us, will fill it with their love and laughter. This is a difficult but necessary truth to acknowledge. What’s true for me is also true for you, dear Christian.
My experiences of nostalgia and disappointment are universal human experiences. We all feel this way. We all long for a place to call our own. And yet there is no “home” in this world that truly satisfies. No earthly home will last forever. It will pass away. As King David put it, “Our days on earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding” (1 Chron 29:15).
You don’t have to fear, though. God has made an eternal home for you—a home that will never be sold, a home that will never be taken away. The Bible calls this eternal home the new heavens and the new earth. In that place, God will “wipe every tear from their eyes” (Rev 21:4). The joys that will be yours in that home are infinitely glorious. They exceed our ability to understand them (1 Cor 2:9).
Therefore, dear Christian, seek security in that home, not in this world. For in that eternal home, all your longings will be fulfilled. What tremendous hope we have as Christians. Hallelujah!
Pastor Chance