Home. Saying that one word would stir emotion in anyone. If you have been blessed in your experience of home, the word conjures feelings of warmth, security, and acceptance. However, if your experience has not been what it should be, then you might be familiar with the longing for a place you’ve never been.
Often, I believe, homes we make have superficial reputations. We minimalize the work it takes to make a home and maintain it. Sometimes, we think that good homes make themselves—a place of refuge that comes with no effort. Or we believe that the effort would be put to better use somewhere else—where the returns are tangible and immediate.
However, making and maintaining a physical home here on earth does not offer us quick returns. Instead, we will see the return in our real home—our eternal home. Building a strong physical home here on earth lays the foundation for our spiritual home in heaven.
The purpose of experiencing “home” now is to give us a glimpse of our home in heaven. C.S. Lewis said, "Our Heavenly Father has provided many delightful inns for us along our journey, but he takes great care to see that we do not mistake any of them for home." We all know that heaven will be our eternal resting place—the place void of pain and full of refuge. However, we need a refuge here on this earth, too. A place where we can seek shelter from the pains of the world we live in, and be surrounded by reminders of who we are.
The Bible shares the significance of both a physical home here on this earth and our eternal home Jesus is preparing for us. Here are 10 passages on the biblical significance of home.
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"My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest." (Isaiah 32:18)
This passage shows us God's intention for home. It is to be a place of peace, security, and rest. Although we will never experience these three traits completely, they should be our goal as we maintain our earthly homes.
"The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous." (Proverbs 3:33)
There are blessings upon our homes when we walk with God. The Holy Spirit indwells homes where Jesus followers live, and it is He who produces that blessing.
"By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches." (Proverbs 24:3-4)
Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are required to build and maintain a home. It is not a haphazard endeavor that does not require intentional planning. This is the reason homemaking is so important.
"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
The home should be a cornerstone for teaching our children and other people about the Lord. In order to be a place of refuge, God's Word needs to be shared and taught.
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" (Psalm 84:1-4)
We long to be with the Lord. It is in Him we find our true home. That is why we are often so discontent here on earth. However, just as God takes care of the birds and gives them a place to rest, He also takes care of us. He gives us earthly homes as we wait for His eternal home.
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"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)
This passage refers to the home of our souls while we are on earth. On this earth, our soul's home is in our mortal body. However, when our earthly body is destroyed, our soul will go to heaven and receive a new "home," or a new body. We ought to understand the importance of our bodies, that they are the home of the Holy Spirit that resides within us.
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20)
When the suffering of this world makes us depressed, this is a verse we can meditate on, and remember the earth is not our home. That's why we feel so uncomfortable in it. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await Jesus' return so that we can come home.
"My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that 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." (John 14:2-3)
Jesus assures us that He is preparing a place for us in heaven and one day He will take us there to be with Him. This is our eternal home. This is also the hope we have in Jesus. He loved us so much that He made it possible for us to be with Him forever in heaven one day.
"But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells." (2 Peter 3:13)
Jesus' promise to us is the new heavens and a new earth. We will spend eternity in the presence of His righteousness. There will be no more pain, sin, or sickness.
"As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Even though earthly homes are important, we can't hold on to them too tightly. Our earthly homes and all that is in them is going away. It's what we can't see that we take with us. When building our earthly homes, we must keep our focus on the eternal. Our earthly home is only a temporary dwelling to reflect our eternal dwelling to come.
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