The Mystery of ‘Home’

One of the themes for the world’s best selling movies, is a home. In Avengers, we see a clique of able bodied heroes and sheroes, band up to defeat a villain whose goal was to destroy earth—their home.

In the movie Avatar (yes, that one with blue people) we see those aliens defend their home from other aliens, in which case they were men this time.

A home is that theme that never misses in any movie. Home Alone, Sound of Music, Lion King, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, name it! It is an inevitable theme, and it’s one that involves everybody on the face of the earth.

A home is where someone belongs or lives PERMANENTLY. That’s the definition according to google and I like that it’s mentioned that way as you’ll see in a bit.

Through out the Bible as well, we see this theme. Adam & Eve began in a home. Abraham had to leave his first home. Jacob fled to another’s! The Israelites longed to be free from slavery’s grasp and return to Canaan the promised land.

After their long return, exile displaced them again. While there, they longed for ‘home’ again. When I meditated long over this, God revealed something. One of the qualities of a home is safety or security.

It’s hard feeling secure in a place where you are a slave or a prisoner. There’s a freedom you lack. Joseph comes to mind. I imagine he doesn’t want to return home even if he gets a chance. Why? His home had his own traitors—brothers that sold him off to traders!

How did this seventeen year old hold up amidst all that trauma and still come out on top! God was with Him through it all. And that’s when it hit me;

Home is not a place. Home is a person!

The definition told us ‘where someone belongs PERMANENTLY.’ Joseph was being sold and on the move all the time. What was permanent about him? What was the constant? God!

The song ‘Christ the Lord is with me’ by Steffany Gretzinger wraps this all up in a beautiful nutshell. She says, ‘Anywhere with you is Home.’

While living in the city, I have seen cousins leave my relative’s house. I get thoughts of disapproval, as many know in typical Ugandan backgrounds, someone could kick you out randomly.

I’m not saying that will happen. Such thoughts cross my mind, but knowing that my home is GOD, that I live in Him, and have my being, that Him being with me everywhere I go—permanently is good enough as long HE IS WITH ME. . .the thoughts have no choice but to lose their sting.

Maybe you’ve grown super fond of your parents’ house. Maybe you find security in having your own, but what if it gets burnt! Our physical houses do not provide that internal security, though they do outward security.

I have seen men with high walls, high security and yet still fail to have peace on the inside of those walls but just worry all night. They lack that one definition of ‘home’, and that’s a person.

Many haven’t found God, or if they have an idea about Him, then they’ve just heard about Him and do not know Him personally. All this means nothing when I think about life after death. Remember you are spirit and not just flesh! The real is spirit!

When you die, where will you go?

It’s another task creating a home for eternity even after you building your own! Why? It is because you’re immortal. The castles we build here blind us to the possibility of living forever. You’ll still need a home after death. Everyone will too, but to get your home ready for you then can as well be done today by accepting God through His son Jesus, by saying it and believing it in your heart.

(Personalize that last line and repeat it of you feel convicted to, starting with ‘I accept…’)

When you do confess and believe, you receive God. When you’ve received God, you’ve received ‘home’, and since ‘home’ is a person, you’ll have security. You’ll belong wherever whenever, along as He is with you! No threat will make you uneasy. No eviction notice will make you tremble. No wonder the psalmist said the name of the Lord is a strong tower that the righteous run to and they are safe. (Prov 18:10) Do you see how the person—God—becomes ‘home’?

The task that follows is bringing many others home, for if you’ve noticed, everyone was designed to live forever! Heck, even the avengers brought their other missing friends back home!

And now if you have God, your story joins the categories of the world’s bestsellers. I mean, would it make sense if you the main actor of your own movie (life) ends up dying miserably in your own movie? I guess not!

The mystery of home, is that ‘home’ isn’t a place, but a person, and on receiving that person, you are at home wherever you go at anytime you go. You are at home wherever you are anytime you are!

There’s security and safety. There’s rest and peace. There’s cover and love.

Home is a person, and that person is God.