A Heart Set on Home

College students often say that one of the most perplexing things about college life is knowing where home is. I agree wholeheartedly. My college campus in Chicago is where I will be spending the majority of the next four years. I'm making friends there that really feel like family. I'm working and studying and plugging into a local church- all things I would do in the place I call home. But the phenomenon becomes complicated when it comes time to take a trip home. I have family and friends and work and church in my hometown too. So where is home? If I answer solely based on my feelings, I'm dissatisfied. No where really feels like home. If I answer based on logic, I'm equally dissatisfied. If home is where you live, I live in two different places. If home is where the people you love are, I deeply love people in both locations. If according to the old proverb, home is where the heart is, my heart feels like its split in two. When I found out that one of my closest friends at school would be leaving for the next semester, a kind of panic set in. I'm still a little nervous about how one of my 'homes' will be without this person around. Ironically, before leaving, my friend gave me a gift that uses 476 pages to explain in beautiful detail the perfection of the place I will one day call home.

Heaven is the only place that I will ever be truly at home. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians that as Christians, "our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20). If those who claim Christ really trusted Him with their lives, then the scripture that says that Christians live "as aliens and strangers in this world" would make a lot more sense (1 Peter 2:11). Unfortunately, it is all too easy for me to live as if this life is all there is. If I really believe that the fight against evil and injustice is already won, then why do I throw up my hands in defeat when I hear reports of genocide, suicide, and war? If I really believe that my Heavenly Father delights to take care of me, then why do I fret about money and grades and clothes and finding a future spouse? And if I really believe that one cannot be a servant of two masters, then why do I attempt to serve my sinful desires while at the same time trying to serve my King? The answer? Because I am still human. I have not yet arrived at my future home. When I am home, the pain and suffering of this world will somehow make sense. My Father will lavish His love upon me and continue to take perfect care of me. When I am home, I will no longer act on the sin that I hate.

In the eyes of the world, Christians really should seem like aliens and strangers. It might seem strange for someone to fight for a cause that seems lost. It might look weird for someone to not care about having the latest clothes or gadgets or creature comforts. It could certainly seem odd for someone to express guilt over succumbing to the pleasures that this world delights in. But all of what I've just expressed isn't strange to the Christ-follower, and it isn't strange to me. Instead, it seems rather strange to me that I am so concerned about feeling at home on this earth. This earth shouldn't feel like home. For Christians, this earth is the closest to hell we will ever get. And our citizenship is not in hell. To quote Philippians 3 again, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Phil. 3:20-21)(emphasis added). This verse is packed with amazing truth! I for one, am eager to get to heaven. My soul longs to be with Christ in a beautiful resurrected body. So if I am going to feel homesick, I want to be homesick for heaven.

And the more that I think about it, as I look to my future, the only thing that seems probable is that I will be roaming this earth to bring the good news of my King to those that need Him. I'm trying to come to terms with the idea of never really 'feeling' at home again- on this side of glory anyway. So instead of feeling dissatisfied about not being able to identify where home is, I'm content to eagerly await my future home. But while I'm here, I intend to live purposefully. I will fight against injustice, I will fight for truth, and God-willing, I will share the grace that has been extended to me with others for the rest of my life. I can't think of a better way to spend my life here, and I can't overestimate the bliss of my future home. How could I, when I will finally be with my King?