By Joe Chesser
Longing for home. We all know the feeling. We plan a vacation for months, excitedly detailing each day’s activities. We can’t sleep the night before we leave because we are so anxious to get started. We are having a wonderful time, but invariably somewhere along the way our thoughts begin to turn toward home. Vacations are fun, but it’s not home. It’s nice to go camping or stay in a hotel on the beach, but it’s not home. How often have you said and heard, “It’s great to get away, but it’s sure good to be back home.” Why? Because home is where we belong, where life is most genuine and fulfilling.
It’s great to have company over the holidays. It’s great to have family visit for several days. But I’ve often thought, “It was sure great to see them come, but it’s also great to see them go.” Why? Longing for home as it is meant to be.
I believe the Apostle Paul might have been in that frame of mind when he wrote 2 Corinthians 5. In a sense, our life on earth can be compared to going on a vacation. We live in temporary housing. There is much to do, much to experience and enjoy, but it’s not like being home. The older we get, the nearer we come to ending our vacation here on earth, the more we long for home. At least that’s the way Paul describes it for Christians.
In 2 Corinthians 5:1-9 Paul speaks of life as being in an “earthly tent.” Yet, while in this tent, we “long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” ... “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” ... “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Sometimes we are enjoying our vacation so much that we don’t want to go home. We don’t even want to think of home. Instead, we long to stay another day or week. We may even wish for our vacation to be permanent. That’s what Satan is wanting us to believe about vacation here on earth. He wants us to long for a few more days here more than longing to be at home with the Lord.
That’s why we are to walk by faith, not by sight. Do you “prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord”? Does your faith allow you to see that the heavenly dwelling is so much better than this present tent? Are you longing for home? Then make it your goal to be pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).
Longing for home. We all know the feeling. We plan a vacation for months, excitedly detailing each day’s activities. We can’t sleep the night before we leave because we are so anxious to get started. We are having a wonderful time, but invariably somewhere along the way our thoughts begin to turn toward home. Vacations are fun, but it’s not home. It’s nice to go camping or stay in a hotel on the beach, but it’s not home. How often have you said and heard, “It’s great to get away, but it’s sure good to be back home.” Why? Because home is where we belong, where life is most genuine and fulfilling.
It’s great to have company over the holidays. It’s great to have family visit for several days. But I’ve often thought, “It was sure great to see them come, but it’s also great to see them go.” Why? Longing for home as it is meant to be.
I believe the Apostle Paul might have been in that frame of mind when he wrote 2 Corinthians 5. In a sense, our life on earth can be compared to going on a vacation. We live in temporary housing. There is much to do, much to experience and enjoy, but it’s not like being home. The older we get, the nearer we come to ending our vacation here on earth, the more we long for home. At least that’s the way Paul describes it for Christians.
In 2 Corinthians 5:1-9 Paul speaks of life as being in an “earthly tent.” Yet, while in this tent, we “long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” ... “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” ... “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
Sometimes we are enjoying our vacation so much that we don’t want to go home. We don’t even want to think of home. Instead, we long to stay another day or week. We may even wish for our vacation to be permanent. That’s what Satan is wanting us to believe about vacation here on earth. He wants us to long for a few more days here more than longing to be at home with the Lord.
That’s why we are to walk by faith, not by sight. Do you “prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord”? Does your faith allow you to see that the heavenly dwelling is so much better than this present tent? Are you longing for home? Then make it your goal to be pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).
- Joe Chesser preaches for the Fruitland Church of Christ, Fruitland, MO. He may be contacted at joeandareva@yahoo.com
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