There's No Place like Home.

I remember taking some graduated high school seniors on a short term mission trip to Jamaica. We had so much fun teaching the village kids with a VBS style agenda all week. But one of our guys got really sick to his stomach and the last night there wanted me to take him to the hospital. We could not go, he wanted his mom and it was a reminder there is no place like home.

Home is our anchor. For many of us in Texas, we endured the brunt of last week’s winter storm in our home. Some of us did without electricity, gas and water but even so, we had the comfort of being in our home with our family. There’s just no place like home.

As believers in Jesus, we must remember that our home is not here on earth. This is a place we are passing through. We have a built in desire to go back home. Each of us has a God-hole in our innermost being that will never be filled until we are reunited with our creator. Paul tells us as much in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”

When we are finally at our real home with Jesus, we won’t have to worry about COVID or federal taxes or cancer or out-of-stock grocery stories or death or wearing a mask or anything that is defined by our fallen state. Whatever disability you have to work around, in heaven, it will not exist! Why? Because we’ll be home reunited with our Creator whose promised to make everything new (see Revelation 21:1-4)!

How can we have hope? Because of your identity. You belong to God. This idea goes all the back to the exodus account of God freeing his people from their enslavement in Egypt. And God, through his Son Jesus Christ, has freed us from our enslavement to sin as well. He has brought us from darkness to light. See, our identity is not in your job, or your bank account, or your family name, or your relationships…our identity is in Jesus Christ. The minute you reconcile that idea, your life will be transformed.

The transformation you see reveals itself in your life and how you interact with those you see everyday. The world looks at how you respond to what’s going on around you and says, “Wow! This person is so different. How are they able to respond this way?” So because this world is not your home, you respond in a way that brings Jesus glory. When you are cut off in traffic or when the wait staff gets your order wrong or when a coworker lies to you or when a family member takes advantage of you. Your response is offered in the way Jesus has changed you. You don’t answer the way the world would because your citizenship in heaven requires you answer the way Jesus would.

Your time here on earth is short. Eternity is forever. Live in such a way as to positively draw attention to our brother and king, Jesus. Remind those around you that your been changed. Let your actions speak loudly that you recognize your home is not here but in heaven. Blessings on your journey.

Who Will Rule?

Global pandemic. Crashed economy. Racial pain. City violence. 2020 has been quite the year. A polarized nation elects a president. 50% of us will be disheartened by the outcome. Are we having fun yet? It often feels like this world is spinning out of control.

Of course, none of this is new. From a political perspective, consider that early Christians withstood 14 years of rule by a cruel and insane Nero who persecuted Christians. Yet they lived in the confidence of the Lordship of Jesus Christ as they faced discrimination and even death. They spent their lives ministering the Gospel to the world, in both word and acts of love, even as they yearned for Jesus’ return.

The early Christians experienced themselves as a “chosen race” and “a people for his own possession.” They were no longer from here but from where Jesus had ascended. Heaven was now their homeland…their nation.

This great sense of belonging also made them strangers on earth. They had to live here while ever looking up. They had to try to avoid settling down and be at home in a world bent on creating it’s own fulfillment. We don’t live here—we live in Christ, for Christ. So, Peter would go on to remind them, “Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” (1 Peter 2:11). The ascended Christ reminds his people that there is no life for us if we make this world our home.

At the same time, we do love here. Peter also named us “a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” He recalled the ancient vocation of Israel . God’s people were called out of the world to be different to show the world who the real king was. So, those who belong to the reigning Jesus can never identify this world as home but we are always sent back into the world to “show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9). Our mission is to lovingly live the difference between those who have been united to Christ the King and those who still live in darkness. We are odd to the world precisely to offer a distinct way of hope, forgiveness, peace, and life.

The early church reminds us that we don’t live here but we do love here. This truth can help us in these crazy days to know it’s not crazy to think things aren’t right. They’re not! And they won’t be until Christ returns and arrives here to set things back in order. We’re not in control but the world is not out of Christ’s control. We’re not supposed to feel at home. But we are supposed to love with the heart of the reigning King.

May you fully trust in Jesus during these tumultuous times. May you feel secure that God is really in control. May you know God knows you and walks with you during this crazy year. Blessings on your journey.