Pondering His Holy Word

Twenty-one years ago, when I was 17 years old, I left my hometown for the first time and rode Greyhound to move for nearly 48 hours to move to the Twin Cities. I remember feeling out of place and homesick for nearly a year. As a result, I moved back to Florida. A year after I moved back to Jacksonville, I was strangely homesick for Minnesota. Then, I moved back to Minnesota when I was 20. Yet, I still felt homesick. 

It was around that time that I felt homesick, not for Florida or Minnesota. I wasn’t sure what I felt homesick for. I sort of just felt out of place in nearly every place I’ve lived and worked. Nonetheless, I felt a longing for home that I couldn’t explain. My bags were constantly back, and I never settled anywhere. I thought I would leave for “home” at any time. Even with my jobs (even with my current job as a teacher), I could never settle either way mentally. 

When I got married, I learned that my wife felt the same way. Then, I realized that many professing Christians felt the same. We have this longing for our home in Heaven. We Christians are sojourners in this world because our permanent residence is in Heaven. At any given time, we should be ready for our Father to receive us in Heaven. Our flesh is in a state of dying, but our spirit is seeking the face of Christ. Jesus tells us that we should not store up treasures on earth because they are only temporary and will fail us, but store up treasures in Heaven. Our hearts should long for the treasures of being with the Lord, our God. Peter tells his readers that as visitors of this world, they should not seek worldly things but conduct themselves in a manner that glorifies God. When we accept Christ, we are longer citizens of our home state. We renounce our citizenship to the country of our birth, and our allegiance is to God of Heaven and Earth. We have a new place of residence with God. 

While we are still in this world in the flesh, the Lord has also given us a new assignment; we are now ambassadors of Christ. Our job is to reconcile people to God (2 Cor 5:17-21). As his ambassadors, we represent Christ, and that we should represent him well. As his servant, we are expected to live at peace with the people as much as possible, and we obey the nation’s law as long as it doesn’t go against God’s command. Though we are here for a time, we should be ready and willing to meet with God at any time. Though we long for our eternal home, we should fulfill God’s assignment for us on earth. The Lord will provide for our needs. While we live at peace with friends and family for the time we are here, our hearts and spirit should be with God in the highest Heaven. 

Prayer: 

​Dear Heavenly Father, We long to be with you in Heaven. We long to be in your presence. Yet, we know that you placed us here on earth for a time. Be with us in Spirit as we are Ambassadors for your Son and our Savior. Give us strength to serve you. Keep our hearts in Heaven so that we may continually seek your face. In Jesus’s name, Amen. 

​1 Peter 2:9-12
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.