Home

Over the last 5 days I've spent more time in my hometown than I have at any point since I moved in January, 2008. One of the realities of being a pastor is their are few weekends off, so extended travel time is a rarity. Greenville, SC is where I grew up and it is a city that has changed immensely since my childhood. What once was a charming small southern city is now a thriving international community. And while more years of my life have been spent here than any other place, is home really about a location on a map, or a destination in the heart?

Over the years I've lived throughout South Carolina. From Greenville, to Florence, to Greenville, to Anderson, back to Florence, to Camden, to Effingham, back to Greenville, to Chesterfield where we currently reside. Each place holds special memories and I have called each home. Greenville is where my family is, so it will always be a place to call home. But is it really home?

For a servant of God, home is where God calls you to be. That may be a town, or a local church. For us their is no doubt that home is Chesterfield right now. It's where God has placed us and prayerfully, He is the only one who would call us away from there. But for the Christian living as God would have them too, home is only one place. Our home is in heaven.

The bible tells us that we are merely "pilgrims and sojourners" here on earth. We are passing through, as I have passed through many towns over the years. This earth is a decaying place, stricken by the same sin that separates us from God, crying out for the day when it can be restored by the return of Jesus Christ. Sadly though, many Christians are very at home in the world. The bible tells us we must be a part of this world. We'd have to leave it not to be. But the word also tells us we are not to be a part of the world and it's ways, and are to separate ourselves from them. In far too many Christians lives, the world we live in today holds far more allure and power than our everlasting home in heaven, and we fall and stumble because of our refusal to biblically separate from this earthly abode.

This world is the home of Satan. While nothing happens here outside of the permissive will of God Almighty, the bible clearly teaches the world now is Satan's domain. He is the "prince" of this world. Satan uses the world to tempt us and draw us away from God. And this world we live in today has more temptation than at any time in history. We fall to temptations of this world because we focus more on it than our eternal home in heaven.

For the Christian we all have a choice to make. Will we focus on our temporary home here on earth, or our eternal one in heaven? If we want to avoid being sucked in by the temptations of this world, the answer is to have our eyes and hearts on heaven. If the eminent reality of the return of Christ for His church were pressing on our hearts as it should, heaven would be a daily thought. It is not exaggeration to say we could all be in heaven with Jesus today. If that were our focus the world here in which we live would not hold the power over so many that it does today.

We sing about heaven, preach about heaven, read about heaven, but do we acknowledge that heaven is closer than it's ever been before? Many times it seems as though some Christians would rather stay here on this fallen earth than begin eternity in heaven with God. You can picture some kicking and screaming during the rapture to stay with the things of this world that dominate their lives. If we would instead focus on heaven, and make it the home in our heart, those things would have little significance for us. Our life here on earth is but a "vapor." Our eternal home and rewards await us in eternity in heaven. For you as you live this life here on earth, where is your home really at in your heart? As the old saying goes, "home is where the heart is." Is your heart in heaven with God, or overtaken on earth with Satan.