7-22-2022

Good Morning!    

          Philippians 3:20; ^“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

     “Homeward bound, I wish I was homeward bound” at least that is what Simon and Garfunkel sing about.  This song is about a man who wants to go home but, for many reasons, can’t go home.  Going home is a dream for many, it is what many people want especially during the holiday season.  Many ballads are about going home, wanting to go home, or arriving home.  It seems to be a popular theme.

    Going home is a desire for most of us.  It is interesting how people define home.  We know that “home is where the heart is” so I often find people in the nursing home, even those who enjoy where they are, still long to go home.  Many people, even though they have lived in a city for many years still consider home to be where they grew up.  They would like to go home but they can’t find any work there.

    Home is a desire for all of us.  It is a common desire of humans everywhere.  Home is where we are safe.  Home is where our loved ones are.  Home is where we find our rest at the end of a long and hard day.  Home is the place where our fears can be put to rest as we seek out the comfort of our friendly surroundings.

    This is why Scriptures spends so much time describing heaven as home for us.  In our verse, we read where out citizenship is in heaven.  In the Gospel of John, we read where Jesus is going to his Father’s house to prepare a place for us.  When Stephen was being stoned in the Book of Acts, he saw heaven open up and invite him home.  Home is a place for us to look forward to in our faith life as well.  Home is where we long to be; it is where we are safe from the perils of the world.  It is where our loved ones are.  Home is where we are safe in the arms of our loving Father.

   It is a place to look forward to.  It is a place that we can look to at times of trouble and at times of peril.  We can look to it as the place where, at the end of a long, hard day; we will have rest.  It is where we can lay our head upon the lap of our loving Savior and rest.  It is where the loving arms of our heavenly family waits to comfort us. 

    So, as we live in this world and we struggle with some of the challenges that this world will throw at us, we can look forward to our heavenly home.  It is always an amazing experience to listen to those who are in the final hours of their life here on earth and they are quietly looking forward to going home.  This is the comfort that we can take in this truth.  Heaven truly is our home, and we can look forward to our home to come.

Father of grace, our home is with you, and we look forward to living with you.  Until we do, give us the certainty of our place with you.  Give us the certainty of knowing that our future is secure with you.  Guard us with your Word.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret