Have you ever experienced being homesick when you’re so far away from home? Most likely, you did. My first-ever experience was when I was a teenager. It was one of the loneliest times that I’ve ever experienced. After finishing high school, I was sent to the big and crowded city of Manila to get a college education. I really longed to be back home at that time. The first few years in college was really tough. But somehow, I grew up, woke up to reality and soon got adjusted to the new environment away from my parents.
Longing for God
By God’s grace, I now understand that this longing for home is something that God has built into us. God is love. God is a God of loving relationship and he created us with such a DNA — to long for meaningful and loving relationships. When we’re far away from those whom we love, we long for them, we feel homesick. We long for home.
From the foundation of the world, God through Jesus Christ has decided to adopt us as his children. He wants to have a meaningful relationship with us as his children. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit want us to be included and to experience their life and love that they have been enjoying for all eternity. It’s a wonderful life filled with love and never-ending joy — a kind of eternal, “divine dance” as some theologians would put it. It’s like a “party!” It’s “heaven!” It’s “paradise!” It’s never-ending joy! It’s filled with happiness! No sadness nor sorrow! It’s “home” with God through Jesus Christ.
Without God in our lives, we can somehow sense that something is missing — a kind of emptiness that needs to be filled. It is as if we are away from home. That is why we long for home.
I really like the way David Kowalick has phrased it in a somewhat picturesque language in his book, All About Glory:
Home in Jesus Christ
Those who are in Christ are already “home” right now enjoying life and love — a loving relationship — with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in this life. That’s right, believers are already home in Jesus Christ right now.
But there is also a final fulfillment of this being “home” in the future when God will dwell with men and there will be no more war, no more tears, no more sorrow and no more pain. What a wonderful home that would be!
We are already home in Jesus Christ right now. And we can be filled with hope, looking forward to that final fulfillment of our true home in Jesus Christ!
