No Place Like Home (conclusion)

Dorothy was right. There's no place like home. Or, as musical artist Chris Daughtry put it,

I'm going home, back to the place where I belong / where your love has always been enough for me.

But can a person who has never known the sense of belonging, family, and unconditional love that we associate with being "home" ever really hope to go back there?

Yes.

When asked what the greatest commandment in all of Scripture was, Jesus replied, "Love God with all your heart" (Mark 12:30). We have a saying, "Home is where the heart is." So if you are loving God with all your heart, then your home is with him. In other words, God is saying to you, "Mi casa, su casa."

Jesus was pretty clear about this in his farewell speech to his disciples around the dinner table (John 14:2-3):

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

That's right, a room of your own in God's house. Fairly cool, if you ask me. Think "Extreme Home Makeover" with God as your personal designer! The One who created you, who knows you better than you know yourself, is preparing a place specifically for you ... talk about belonging! And you won't be there alone; you'll have your real family with you: your Bridegroom (John 3:29), your Big Brother (Romans 8:29), your Father (Romans 8:15), and a huge extended family (Matthew 19:29).

As for unconditional love, no one does it better than God, who embodies the concept so totally that when you look up the word "love" in the Unabridged Dictionary of Eternity, you see God's picture (1 John 4:8). Well, that's not totally true. There is one small condition attached to God's love . . . you have to actually accept it (John 1:12). Let him love you.

And then you will begin to understand what it really means to be home. We aren't there yet, but one day we will be. He promised.

You know, I have a feeling that the room Jesus is preparing for me will contain (among other things) a Franklin dollhouse kit. And when I get there, I will finally open the box and put it together!