As the last few days tick away before we leave China and head back to America, I caught myself saying that "it will be nice to be home". Unfortunately, the words got stuck in my throat and the phrase tasted funny in my mouth. Is America still "home"? Truth be told, these last three years we have been so immersed in Chinese culture, lifestyle, food, language, and friends, that in a very real sense to us, China is in many ways "home" also. So do we have two homes, or none?
Fortunately God brought to mind the true answer to the question. We do have a home, but it is neither America nor China. Wherever we live, wherever we work, wherever we stay on this earth, we are but sojourners waiting to return to our real home. That home is in heaven. As believers, we truly can say with Paul:
Philippians 3:20 "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;"
It is very easy to get too comfortable in the place we are staying and begin to think of that place as "home". We settle in, we make friends, we find our favorite restaurants, we settle into our work routine, etc. We can spend considerable time, effort and money making our little nest as comfy as possible. We get all the right furniture, get the paint colors on the walls just so, get those wonderful drapes that match the carpet, find the perfect car, trim our grass and hedges just so...on and on ad nauseum.
But what does all that really accomplish? Having sold pretty much everything we own twice now (once when we came to China and now again before heading back for furlough), I think has given me a really unique perspective on things. It is all just "stuff". When you reduce your life down to what fits in a few suitcases, it really changes your system of values. When you have to make "stay or go" decisions on everything you have spent your life accumulating, the reality that we are just on a journey and not meant to be too "comfortable" here really comes to life.
So think about it in your own life. Do you own your things, or do your things own you? Are the roots you have put down for yourself keeping you from being free to follow God's lead wherever that may be? Are you too comfortable and in love with your life so much that if God's call came for you to "sell everything, give it to the poor, and come follow Him" (Luke 18:22) could and would you do it? It is not a question I'm needing you to answer to me, but it is a question you should consider. If you feel like God is not using you in a powerful way, ask yourself, have you made yourself available for use?
Finally remember this stern caution from God's word:
1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
By all means make yourselves comfortable, but make it the comfort you would have while staying in a hotel while on a trip. Don't invest so much in your comfort and your "temporary home" that you miss out on the chance to store up treasures for yourself that will be waiting for you when you get to your true, "heavenly home."
By His Grace,
David G. Johnson
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