"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock." -Psalm 27:4–5
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" Psalm 84:1–4
This world is a tricky place to live in for a follower of Christ because we yearn in the deepest part of our heart for a Home that isn't here. We're constantly homesick for the fullness of His presence; for the One we get mere glimpses of in this life.
I say it's tricky because it's all too easy to forget about who Home really is. It's easy to go through the mundane and systematic rhythms of life, where tomorrow starts to feel more pressing than Heaven, where worrying about the next day just feels more realistic.
The rest the Lord offers us comes in when we acknowledge worrying about tomorrow is less important than daydreaming about, seeking after, and longing for Heaven. Christ is with us in every moment, but how foolish it is to believe our present is worth the anxiety when we have the joy that is to be revealed to us!
Yet- rest assured that the Father is here now, on Earth as in Heaven, and anywhere He is, there is Home; because Home isn't a place as much as it is the presence of God. After all, Heaven is no Heaven without Him in it.
The Highest King never turns down the one who falls at His feet, and never denies healing to the one who touches the hem of His robe. In Him, there is fullness of joy and peace, and any who professes Him as Lord will never be cast away, but instead will be washed white as snow. Home is within reach, as the Good Shepard is always longing for the lost to return.
It is my hope that we might all live a life full of the presence of the Lord, living and walking by His Spirit, inquiring at His temple. But also that we might always look forward, with hopeful expectation, to the day we are finally Home.
"Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." -2 Corinthians 5:8
"Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." -John 14:23
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